RIVERS: GOVERNOR FUBARA APPROVES N80.8BN FOR ROAD PROJECT

RIVERS: GOVERNOR FUBARA APPROVES N80.8BN FOR ROAD PROJECT

Issue 24-month completion deadline

By Faith Kordoo

The Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara, has approved the sum of N80,886,404,836.45 for the construction of the 33.5km-long Elele-Omoku Road project that will traverse three local government areas of the State.

The local government areas include Ikwerre, Emohua, and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nelson Chukwudi.

According to the statement, Governor Fubara gave the approval on Tuesday during a meeting of the Rivers State Executive Council, which he presided over, and issued a 24-month completion period for the project.

The deputy of the state, Prof. Ngozi Odu, was in attendance.

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Engr. Atemea Briggs, revealed that the project will be funded from the savings made from the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the State Government.

Giving specifications of the project, Engr. Briggs said: “The project starts from Elele to Umudioga, Egbeda, and Ubumini to Omoku. The total length of the project is 33.5 kilometers. There is an existing road there that is just 7.3 meters wide, but the government wants to dualize this road.

“The proposed road width now is 7.8 meters to be asphalted fully with a road shoulder of 2.5 meters. I will like to mention that along this road, we have several kilometers of low land, wherein to build a road shall require replacement, filling of the ground by more than 3 meters high.”

Engr. Briggs further said: “This is something the contractor can only achieve through hydraulic sandfilling and using laterite. And you know how costly these are.

“The road is also having a bridge of 99 meters long to be built side-by-side the existing one between Egbeda and Omoku. The cost of the project is N80,886,404,836.45k only. It was awarded to Craneburg Construction Company. The delivery period is 24  months,” he confirmed.

On his part, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joseph Johnson, disclosed that the Council will be setting up a five-man committee made up of commissioners of agriculture, urban development, the Permanent Secretary of Lands, and the Surveyor-General of the State to deal with the issues of land grabbing.

“All that will be put together within the week, and Council will also provide all the necessary requirements for that committee to conclude its job within record time.

“It is important that I mention that the money for the construction of the 33.5-kilometer road comes from our savings. This is important because most people will be asking what we are doing with our IGR.

“These are funds we will use, accrued from our savings. This approach is what this government will be adopting to fund phase two of the Trans-Kalabari Road project, which will soon  commence,” Johnson reiterated.

In her clarification, Acting Director-General of the State Bureau of Public Procurement, Engr. Ine Briggs, said that all the road projects being undertaken by the government had been scaled through due diligence and quality assurance and had been certified for delivery to the Rivers people.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Oreh, said the Council was briefed on the success of the accreditation exercise conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NWCN) at the State College of Nursing Sciences.

She revealed that the State School of Nursing was recently upgraded to the College of Nursing Sciences, with an admission capacity now increased by 142 percent and a 400-capacity classroom block being constructed for both midwifery and nursing students.

Dr. Oreh further noted that with a robust primary healthcare system because existing facilities in the state are upgraded and their functionalities enhanced, gaps are being addressed in access to requisite services.

She noted that Rivers State also emerged as the South-South zonal winner of the Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge convened by UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Aliko Dangote Foundation, and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

The Health Commissioner also revealed that there is a new partnership commenced between the State Government and UNICEF that is donating an oxygen manufacturing plant and equipment for the new-born neonatal unit at the Eleme General Hospital, which will be handed over soon.

“Another update to note is His Excellency’s approval of the implementation of the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme, which is the State Health Insurance Scheme.

“The Federal Government has been notified, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), and the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare have all been notified, so that all processes needed for the enrolment of the citizens and residents of Rivers State in the health insurance scheme, especially our vulnerable population, can immediately commence,”  Dr. Oreh stated.