In a bid to sanitize and curb reported nuisance caused by articulated trucks in Onitsha, the Industrial hub of Anambra State, Governor Willie Obiano led government has assured that all the articulated trucks that constitute threat to road users on roads in the Onitsha Industrial hub are to be relocated to a major transport terminal in Onitsha within the next two weeks.
Commissioner for Road, Rail and Water Transport, Mr. Uchenna Okafor who disclosed this in company of the Chairman of the State Physical Planning Board, Bar Chike Maduekwe to the harbor to assess the situation on ground.
The trucks would be relocated to the Onitsha-Enugu Urban Transport Terminal which is at about seventy-five percent completion stage.
It was observed that the entire two hundred by one hundred and eighty meter land space has been fully paved with concrete and a major borehole completed with finishing touches being put on a modern toilet facility at the terminal.
The terminal was a product of a Memorandum of Understanding between Anambra State Government, Detrazi Group and Urban Transport Terminal Limited signed last year by Obiano.
It is expected to have sections for various types of vehicles and will also have a seventy-two room hotel for travelers.
The Terminal is designed to run twenty-four hours, according to the Terminal Manager, Sir Michael Ezeani with floodlight.
At Harbour Industrial Estate, Okafor and Maduekwe decried that articulated trucks parked in four lines along the roads in the layout, leaving a very narrow space for moving vehicles even as they observed that dirty has taken over the environment, with faeces and refuse littered all over the road.
They as well observed that shanties were also seen springing up in very large number in the area, which residents allege were being used by criminals to perpetrate crimes.
Okafor who described the ugly incident as totally unacceptable, said the layout was well-planned with very wide and strongly-built roads to accommodate the anticipated heavy duty trucks that convey products and raw materials to and from the industries and not to serve as park.
He revealed that the visit was directed by Governor Willie Obiano because of the negative security reports coming as a result of the activities of the truck drivers, adding that government has made plans to relocate all the articulated trucks to the Onitsha Urban Transport Terminal located at Upper Iweka in two weeks time when the Terminal must have been completed.
The Chairman of the State Physical Planning Board, Bar Maduekwe said reorganizing the physical space of the State to reflect that of a well-planned state is a major charge on the Board by the Governor and the incidents around the harbor if unchecked, have the capacity to undermine government’s plans to build a secure and environmentally-sustainable state.
Some residents and operators of industries in the harbor including Barr Okey Obikeze, Mr. Oselloka Offor and Mr. Ben Ohia regretted that eighty percent of the trucks have no business with the industries in the harbor.
They said their presence have not only led to a spate in crime and criminality but also has very negative health and environmental impact on the people.
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They appealed to government to immediately come to their aid and relocate the trucks to once again guarantee them safety and access to their homes and industries, as the trucks most times, block the entrance to their buildings.
