October 14, (THEWILL) — The Ebonyi State Government has disclosed its commitment to closing all illegal parks created by commuters within the Abakaliki capital city in order to guarantee free flow of traffic.
Commissioner for Transport and Special Projects, Prince Igboke Emeka Collins, stated this during a chat with journalists at his office in Abakaliki.
According to the Commissioner, the approved parks in Abakaliki metropolis are the Akanu-Ibiam Park, Spera-in-deo, His Royal Highness Ezeogo Igboke Ewa Central Park, opposite the International Market.
Others are the Chris Nwankwo Park, also known as EBSU-Ishieke Park within Water works Road, and EBOTRANS Park within Nwokpo area.
He further stated that in order to enhance efficient transport system in the state, the state government had constructed bus sheds and designated bustops where commuters were expected to pick, drop, load and offload goods.
Igboke said, “Some are bus sheds that were constructed within the bus stop area and all this whole area is not all meant to be a bus stop.
“Some sitting bus sheds were built in areas that we felt that people should sit and take a shade or wait for some certain people that they want to meet. Some are also built within the areas that we actually have a bus stop.
“So recently we went around the state identifying the area that a bus ought to stop. Let me start from, maybe you are coming to Abakaliki, the bus ought to stop at Ezzangbo Junction”, he said.
“After Ezzangbo Junction, you get Ishieke Junction and Ukwuachi. Another bus stop where you see that bus shed is the PDP office that you can stop. After then, if you want to offload anything, you ought to enter inside the Aghia-Ofu Market. Drop your passenger there. If you have load, you offload. From there, going towards the town, another bus stop you will see is within the G-Hostel Junction.
“At G-Hostel Junction, you are not allowed to offload anything, but you can just stop a bit, drop one or two passengers, and take your leave. So the next place that will be your last bus stop is entering Akanu Ibiam Park to offload your passenger. If you are still going up, you enter Ezeogo Igbokeewa Central Park and drop your passenger.
“But if you are following through Obodo Park, there is a bus stop at Area Command and another bus stop at Obodo Park. And there, you are not allowed to offload any load, but you can drop the passenger and continue your movement. Your last bus stop is Chris Nwankwo Park known as Ishieke Park.
“So then, what we are doing recently is closing all these illegal parks that we are seeing here and there. We have shut down a lot of illegal parks in Ebonyi State.
He said in order to ease movement of people in the state, the state government had introduced shuttles with ultimatum to drivers to comply with the directive of inscribing their location on the cars, including painting them green, white and green.
He said, “But within the state here, we have shuttles. You get it? So recently, we have commissioned all these shuttle drivers to paint the state’s known colour. That is green, white, and green.”
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
