Flood Washes Off Drainage Under Construction In Anambra

The PUNCH reports that a drainage channel which was still being constructed by the Anambra State Government on Niger Street in Fegge, Onitsha, has collapsed following heavy rainfall.

A video of the drainage, which collapsed on Thursday night, has been circulating on social media and showing the channel, with a resident in the area describing the ongoing construction work as substandard.

The resident said, “Look at the kind of road that Governor Chukwuma Soludo is building for us. Just one rainfall in Onitsha, and the road has been washed off, while the drainage has collapsed.

“Soludo has been saying he will turn Anambra into Dubai Taiwan (sic). Is this how he will turn Anambra into Dubai Taiwan? Just see the road, it is just red earth, no cement at all.”

When The PUNCH correspondent visited the site on Friday, some residents said the rains came unannounced on the same day construction began.

One of them who identified herself as Nkem Nwanolue said, “The contractor is still on the site, and no one has declared the project completed. The concrete cast takes a minimum of seven days to cure and about 21 days to fully stabilise.

“That very gutter on Niger Street had neither cured nor stabilised before the rains of that very day, and anyone who knows Onitsha knows the volume of the flood that greets every rainfall.

But another resident, Mr Godwin Okeke, insisted the project had been shoddily handled while blaming the development on “poor supervision” on the part of government officials, the team of engineers, and contractors handling the project.

“What happened showed that the materials used are substandard. If they had applied enough cement during the casting of the drainage, it would not have washed off,” Okeke added.

An appointee of the state government, Mr Chidiebele Obika, said, “Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Mr Ifeanyi Okeoma, a team of engineers from the ministry were here on Niger Street, Fegge Onitsha, to inspect the level of work on the stretch and witness firsthand the effects of Thursday’s downpour on the road.

“Contrary to the amateur clip that went viral earlier today, nothing much happened. I can confirm that the construction company handling the project is on-site working on the stretch.”