11th October, 2023
By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Massive rehabilitation work has started on the deplorable Eleme section of the East-West road in defilement of the promise of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to a delegation of stakeholders from Rivers State led by Governor Siminalayi Fubara during a recent visit to Aso Rock presidential villa.
Governor Fubara had among other things, pleaded with President Tinubu to urgently intervene on the deplorable Eleme section of the East-West road as the December deadline for the completion of the Port Harcourt Refinery was fast approaching to enable easy lifting of petroleum products.
When our Correspondent visited the deplorable section of the road on Tuesday, it was discovered that the contractor, Reynolds Construction Company Limited, RCC, had mobilized to the Trailer Park area Eleme axis of the road and work has commenced.
Our correspondent saw heavy earth-moving equipment like cranes, excavators and others for piling pillars and possible construction work of an overhead bridge.
It was also observed that substantial clearing and excavation had been done on both sides of the road. There were indications that a flyover may constructed at the intersection at the Trailer Park.
There was watertight security with the presence of armed soldiers and other security agencies at the site. This was to ensure the security of the personnel, and equipment for the project to be completed within record time.
Vehicular movements were being diverted to the nearby villages.
Attempts made to speak with the Site Engineer of the Construction Company to throw more light on the scope of work and the scheduled time frame for the completion of the work were not successful as he was said to be unavailable.
However, residents and road users, especially truck drivers expressed happiness that finally work has commenced on the deplorable section of the road.
They narrated the harrowing experiences they had been suffering and man-hours wasted navigating deplorable sections of the road.
In a related development, the Chairman of Eleme Local Government, Chief Hon. Obarilomate Ollor has led the demolition of structures hampering the commencement of construction work by RCC at the Trailer Park area.
Ollor maintained that the people of Eleme and road users have suffered too much as a result of the bad state of the road and as such he will not let anything or anyone obstruct or cause delay in the fixing of the road.
The management of RCC had earlier called on the Chairman to intervene following the refusal by some people operating around the Trailer Park area to relocate their structures so as to pave the way for the commencement of construction work.
The Council boss appealed to residents and road users to give RCC full support and cooperation to carry out their operations smoothly.
He also warned all those who would want to constitute a nuisance that they would be vehemently resisted.
It would be recalled that the Rivers State governor, Fubara had led stakeholders of the state to Abuja on Thursday, September 14 to thank the President for appointing Rivers sons to key positions
Those appointed are Chief Ajuri Ngelale as spokesman to President Tinubu and Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, and the former governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Others are Chief Frank Owhor as South-South representative on the board of North-East Development Commission(NEDC), Hon. Boma Iyaye as Executive Director, Finance and Administration in Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Chief Tony Okocha as Rivers representative on the Board of NDDC.
Governor Fubara commended the President for his resolve to bring back the Port Harcourt Refinery into operation by December 2023 but urged him to order an immediate reconstruction of the failed section of the East-West Road leading to the refinery to ease movement
In his speech, President Tinubu acknowledged their solidarity with delight and said his administration is already taking measures to reverse the current stalemate experienced across sectors and doing so by harnessing the various talents of Nigerians who are hard-working and richly endowed.
The President said he was aware of the numerous concerns about the poor state of the East-West road and assured that actions would be taken to fix the road to ease the suffering of the people.