Abia State Government (ABSG) has concluded plans to launch a 25-year Greater Aba master plan to guide the future development of Aba, the commercial hub of the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu disclosed this in Umuahia, while briefing journalists on Monday on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
He revealed that the state government, through a collaborative effort between the Greater Aba Development Authority and UN-Habitat, have been working assiduously to deliver on the master plan, which he said would address the land-use infrastructure of Aba.
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“The (Abia) master plan is designed to rest on four pillars. The first pillar is road infrastructure, transportation, development, and connectivity within Aba. The second pillar will deal with the economic development of Aba. It will deal with industrial zones, upgrades, and formalization of commercial hubs within the city.
“The third pillar will deal with sustainable development and planned urban expansion of Aba. And the fourth pillar will deal with terrestrial resilience and flood management, which of course have been a perennial problem of that city,” Prince Kanu stated.
Prince Kanu also informed that 91,227 Abians have already enrolled in the Abia State Social Health Insurance Scheme, as the State Executive Council has granted approval for the Ministry of Health and the agency to extend their services to the informal sector.
He used the opportunity to announce that, a new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facility, fully installed and has become operational in the state, particularly at the Abia State Diagonistic centre, Umuahia, stating that the ICU would improve emergency care services and special types of surgeries that will be undertaken by the facility.
Prince Okey Kanu further informed that “the first phase of the ABSU power restoration project has been completed, with power restored and being distributed to several areas of the campus.
“The Phase 2 of the light project would be embarked upon once approval is granted in that regard and informed that ABSU hostel renovation works are progressing well, with electrical and plumbing installations completed, adding that, the building would soon be handed back to the university authorities”.
The Information Commissioner, who recalled that there has been some security breaches in the Umunneochi area of the state, leading to some fatalities, said the state security agencies have been put on full alert as the state government would not leave any stone unturned in activating the entire security architecture of the state to address the issue of security breaches.
Contributing, the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Mr Ikechukwu Monday while emphasising the restoration of power supply at ABSU, informed that, the state government has started the process of transferring regulatory authority from the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission to the Abia State Electricity Regulatory Authority.
