Need for Imo govt to re-open Douglas Road

Douglas road in Owerri, the Imo state capital is strategically located, and also the commercial nerve center of the state. The nerve centre of an organization or place is where its activities are controlled as well as where bulk of revenue is generated.
All over the world, nerve centers exist from where the prosperity of a state or nation is determined.  The constituents of these commercial centers may include banks, corporate offices, markets, parks etc.
Economic activities around most nerve centers determine the healthy or otherwise nature of the most economies. That is why most businesses try to have presence in such strategic places.
In Imo, Douglas road cannot be stripped off its nerve center status because most business activities that has sustained the state Internally Generated Revenue IGR for a long time are located there. For instance, 90% of food beverages that comes into the state are first off-loaded at Douglas road before making their ways to the final consumers.
Recently, Governor Rochas Okorocha, while embarking on what he termed urban renewal program, closed down Doulas road and forced business owners within Douglas and its environs to close shop. His adduced reason being that reconstruction work is ongoing along the road and also at the popular Ekeukwu market.
According to economic index indicator, since the closure of that road, the state economic activities have nosedived. Most products that come in from outside the state cannot be brought in because warehouses are under lock and key resulting in an untold hardship for business owners, companies, traders and buyers.
In most cities where city centers faces renovations, the contractors are compelled to execute their jobs at night to pave way for business activities during the day. If such situation should be established in Owerri, it will reduce the level of negative assessment of government intentions on Douglas road as well as allow for normal economic activities to flow.
While government on their part has stated that the closure was meant to fast track work as well as keep the citizens who ply on the road safe during construction, the citizens think otherwise since their sources of income have been negatively affected.
Apart from businesses collapsing concerns have severally been raised that the urban renewal programme is sending Imolites out of job and into the heavily saturated labour market. Infact, we want to recall that the Catholic Medical Practitioner Association, Imo State chapter once raised alarm that the state has lost about N3trillion as well as 25 thousand jobs to the urban renewal programme. If you add this to the less the ongoing Douglas Road project is causing the citizens and state you will certainly begin to appreciate the harm the government is inflicting on citizens in the name of development.
But, most importantly, government should without further delay open the critical arterial road to save businesses and people who work there who have been languishing in idleness for the past few weeks. Besides, these direct beneficiaries government and the state economy are also bound to benefit from the opening of the road because of its strategic position in both the major gateway and economic nerve of the state.
If the intention of government as it claims is for the overall interest of the state, it is important for contractors handling various projects along Douglas Road to hasten up in order to reactivate economic activities along the commercial nerve center of Owerri.