Enugu – Fulfilling his election promise to build 10,000 roads in eight years, Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah has launched the construction of a massive asphalt production plant built by his administration.
Inaugurating the plant in Enugu on Thursday, Governor Mbah also disclosed that the state would additionally produce inputs for asphalt production, adding that these moves would drastically reduce the cost of road construction for the state.
“This is an event that brings us closer to our dream of saying goodbye to our broken, unpaved roads.”
“This specialized and state-of-the-art asphalt production plant is designed to produce 160 tons of asphalt per hour. For reference, it will produce 2.5 tons every minute and 160 tons of asphalt per hour.
“This means that if we decide to work 20 hours a day, we can produce 3,200 tonnes every day. This is not seen anywhere in the South East.
“Interestingly, we are also committed to ensuring that we produce the inputs. In a few days from now, we are going to inaugurate a plant where we will mine and crush the stones needed to run this plant.
“We are hopeful that we are going to start exploring for bitumen in the state because we are also blessed with bitumen. So, in a few years, we are going to be able to produce bitumen to run this plant. This means we will get bitumen, stone and sand here so that everything can be manufactured here in Enugu,” the governor said.
Mbah said the inauguration of the asphalt plant has brought his administration closer to achieving its target of constructing over 1,000 kilometres of road annually.
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“This brings us closer to our dream of building at least a thousand kilometres of road every year in Enugu State. This is unheard of anywhere else. We are talking about a length of road that you know is a challenge to build even in eight years. But we are committed to doing this every year.
“So, for reference, what this means is that all our urban roads will be paved, we are not going to discriminate. Just a few weeks ago, we announced the approval of N183 billion for the construction of 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads.
“Remember that we have just completed the construction of 71 urban roads and work is ongoing on 10 rural roads which we had awarded earlier.
“For our rural roads, we understand the importance because one of the challenges we face in increasing our agricultural production is farm access. So, with the commissioning of this kind of plant, we can now access our farm because we are now going to tarmac our farm roads, and also build roads in our rural communities.
“So, our goal with regard to roads is not a dream but something we have already started implementing,” he said.
Earlier in their remarks, Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Gerald Otiji, Special Adviser to the Governor on Project Development and Implementation, Arch. Uchenna Nwatu, and Technical Manager of the plant, Mitesh Prajapati, noted that the plant is of high standard and well suited to realise the governor’s dream of infrastructural transformation in Enugu.
“This product from FabBehind is environmentally friendly and will undoubtedly benefit citizens with a smoother, safer and more sustainable road network.
“Unrivalled in the South East, this asphalt batch mix plant has several special features that set it apart from others. With a capacity of 160 tonnes per hour, the plant can produce up to 1,500 tonnes of top quality asphalt daily,” said Arch Nwatu.
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