Governor Alex Otti’s government says it will soon launch a 25-year ‘Greater Aba Master Plan’, a comprehensive, long-term blueprint designed to guide the development and transformation of the commercial city.

Information commissioner Okey Kanu disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists at the Government House, Umuahia, on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting.

Mr Kanu described the initiative as a product of collaboration between the Greater Aba Development Authority and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.

According to him, the plan focuses on four key pillars: road infrastructure and connectivity, economic development, sustainable urban expansion, and flood management.

He said, “The state government, through a collaborative effort between the Greater Aba Development Authority and UN-Habitat, has been working assiduously for a while now to deliver on this master plan.

“The master plan which, in the main, will address the land use infrastructure and communication goals of the authority and the master plan is designed to rest on four pillars. The first pillar is road infrastructure, which includes transportation, development and connectivity within Aba.”

He added, “The second pillar will deal with economic development of Aba, and it will deal with industrial zones, upgrades and formalisation of commercial hubs within the city.

“The third pillar will deal with sustainable development and planned urban expansion of Aba, while the fourth pillar will deal with terrestrial resilience and flood management, which, of course, have been a perennial problem of that city.”

On health, Mr Kanu said the government had inaugurated three additional primary health centres as part of the 17 completed PHCs under the Project Ekwueme Scheme.

He said that the fourth PHCs would be inaugurated on June 20 in Ngu, Bende LGA. He disclosed that the centres were fully equipped with modern medical tools and staffed with qualified personnel to improve healthcare accessibility across Abia.

Mr Kanu said Abia’s health insurance scheme currently boasts 91,227 enrollees, describing the figure as “encouraging.”

He said the health ministry had also received approval to expand coverage to the informal sector in the coming weeks. He also said that a new intensive care unit had become operational at the Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic Hospital, “significantly enhancing emergency medical response and specialised surgeries”.

He said Abia had made remarkable progress in its broader public infrastructure overhaul.

The commissioner also mentioned that the hostel renovations at the Abia State University, Uturu, were nearing completion. He stated that the institution would commence staff recruitment in critical academic areas following approval by the government.

Mr Kanu further stated that projects, including the construction of internal roads, library upgrades, and auditorium retrofitting, were ongoing at Abia State College of Education Technical, Arochukwu.

He said those were part of the administration’s agenda to support course accreditation efforts in ASCETA and ultimately take education in institutions of higher learning in the state to greater heights.

He spoke on the recent security situation in the state and admitted that there had been security breaches. He expressed the government’s resolve to address the situation “with a robust response”.

Mr Kanu said security agencies were on high alert to ensure peace and security were sustained across the state. 

(NAN)