Otti gives reasons for relocation of Aba motor parks from Milverton avenue
Abia State Government, has said that all the motor parks along Milverton Avenue Aba, would be relocated to a more suitable location.
This is coming on the heels of recent upsurge in fire outbreaks in markets and some other business facilities in the commercial city.
Timber Shed in Ehere Aba, and Chisco Bus Terminal located at Milverton Avenue Aba, were both gutted by fire in the last seven days.
Governor Alex Otti who visited both scenes announced the relocation of motor parks after his visit to Chisco Bus Terminal which was burnt Wednesday night.
Although no life was lost in the latest inferno, two luxury buses, a hummer bus, motorcycles, and other items were completely destroyed.
The Governor who was on-the-spot assessment of the damage at the terminal, said the reason for the relocation is to allow for ease of movement to and fro the parks and markets.
According to Gov. Otti, the crowded nature of all the motor parks dotting the about one kilometre street, is a recipe for disaster.
He stated that the government would look at other parks at Osisioma and Port Harcourt Road, with more space, with a view to relocating the parks at Milverton Avenue.
” I think it’s time we relocated the parks to a more spacious place. We can’t have everybody clustering in a place. This is a recipe for disaster, and I know that there are parks around Osisioma, part of Port Harcourt Road.
“We are going to go and have a look at them and ensure that we relocate a lot of these vehicles to the parks, so that it could be easy for us to move if there is any incident,” he said.
Governor Otti directed that henceforth, every business facility in the state should have fire extinguishers installed on their premises to contain fire outbreaks and disclosed that the enforcement of that policy would commence next week.
Otti announced that his administration had purposed to procure additional fire trucks to complement what is available in Aba.
Described the fire incident as unfortunate, the Governor commended the men of the state fire service for mobilising and working hard to extinguish the fire.
“I am happy that the Fire Service mobilised and worked very hard to stop the fire. If you noticed, in the last few weeks, there have been several fire incidents in Aba.
“That tells me that there are things we’ve been doing that we are not doing well. In the first instance, every facility must have fire extinguishers and we are going to enforce it from next week.
“We will also try and get more fire trucks because I’m told that when the fire was going to overpower the service men, they had to seek back up from Umuahia and that’s a distance,” he said.
He commiserated with the transport company over its loss and pledged government’s support to “at least, take some of their loses.”
Mayor of Aba South, Chief Uche Wogu, who accompanied the Governor with his Aba North counterpart, Chief John Udeagbala, described the incident as most unfortunate and thanked God that no life was lost.
He commended the Governor as well as men of the state fire service for rising to the occasion.
“We thank God that no life was lost. We thank God that Abia is working. We thank God that we have a Governor that is very sensitive to the plight of the people.”
The Mayor who blamed the incident on a spark from generator, frowned at the attitude of those who store diesel at the congested park.
“The day was saved by the Fire Service. It is unfortunate that in a small place like this, we have diesel dump which might have aggravated the fire incident.
“There was a spark from the generator. It exploded, diesel must have aided it. When I got here yesterday, people were scooping diesel from the drainage which is unacceptable.
” You can’t have diesel dump here. I also suspect that other transport companies might have the same thing. It is not acceptable,” Mayor Wogu declared.
Chief Wogu advised the transport companies to move to the new parks proposed by the government as they are operating in the city centre at present, which, according to him, is not acceptable.
The Mayor commended Aba residents for helping to put out the inferno.
Narrating how the fire started, the Chisco Park Manager, Mr Ikechukwu Nwosu, said the fire was started by a spark that occurred as a staff of the company tried to change power supply to a generating set, to pump water.
He lamented over the company’s loss, appealing to the government for support to mitigate their pains.
