The Abia State 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.

The state Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday while briefing reporters at the Government House, Umuahia, on the outcome of the State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting.

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

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.

“The second pillar will deal with the 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 (PHCs), as part of the 17 completed PHCs under the Project Ekwueme Scheme.

He said the fourth PHCs would be inaugurated on 20 June in Ngu, Bende Local Government Area.

He disclosed that the centres were equipped with modern medical tools and staffed with qualified personnel to improve healthcare accessibility across the state.

Mr Kanu said the state’s health insurance scheme currently has 91,227 enrollees, and described the figure as “encouraging”.

He said that the State Ministry of Health 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 in Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic Hospital, “significantly enhancing emergency medical response and specialised surgeries”.

He said the state has made remarkable progress in its broader public infrastructure overhaul.

The commissioner also said that the hostel renovations at Abia State University, Uturu, were nearing completion and that the institution would commence staff recruitment in critical academic areas following the state EXCO’s approval.

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

He said that these were part of the administration’s agenda to support course accreditation efforts in the college and ultimately elevate education in institutions of higher learning in the state.

Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has received commendations from within and outside the state for rebuilding new roads and other infrastructure across the South-east state.

The commissioner admitted there had been security breaches in the state recently and expressed the government’s resolve to address the situation “with a robust response.”

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

(NAN)