Governor Siminalayi Fubara has ordered Julius Berger to complete the 9.7km Ogbakiri Town road project awarded at N15bn within the stipulated time of eight months because of its socio-economic importance to the people.
The road dualisation project begins from the Emohua axis on the East-West Road-Tema Junction, connecting about six communities within Ogbakiri Town and terminates at the waterside of Egbelu-Oduoha-Ogbakiri communities.
Fubara, who inspected the road on Tuesday, explained that his administration awarded the project at the cost of about N15billion and had paid 30 per cent mobilisation fee to the contractor.
He said: “If you could see, when we were coming in, at the centre of the road, the other side that leads to Tema in Kalabari, Julius Berger has already taken up that stretch.
“And we felt it will be proper for them to also extend the good work they did in that other side to this side of the road so that there will be uniformity.
“For that reason, we awarded this job to them, and we have also paid them 30 percent mobilization, which is N4.5billion. The total cost of this job is about N15billion.
“Last week, we paid 30 percent for them to commence work on it. They have also assured us that in eight months’ time, that this project will be delivered.”
Fubara in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS) Nelson Chukwudi said his commitment was to improve the quality of life of all residents of the state and that those in Ogbakiri Town were no exception.
He also noted the plan to connect the road with a bridge to some riverine communities on the other side from the Egbelu-Oduoha-Ogbakiri communities.
He said: “We made a promise to our people that we will continue to embark on projects that will touch the lives of our people.
“This is not a 1km road. It is not a 2km road. It is a 9.7km road at the cost of about N15billion. So, you can imagine what we are doing to better the lives of the people here.
“I personally came to the waterfront to see what we could do to connect the other side of the river to this side. But we are working on it. Let us see by the time we are done with this, we will now decide on what to do about that.”
Fubara assured that Rivers people and all residents would have the best from his administration to appreciate their support.
The governor also stopped at the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic at Rumuola near Port Harcourt where a number of projects including the Entrepreneurship Centre, Staff Office and Senate Building, were ongoing.
Fubara said the Entrepreneurship Centre was strategic because it would serve the need for functional education that would develop the occupational skills of students to become productive citizens.
Fubara said: “Part of our programme; we assured the good people of Rivers State that we are not going to limit what we are doing to roads alone but will extend to the education sector.
“We discussed with the Governing Council on their inauguration, demanding to know what the basic needs of the school are, and they mentioned a lot of them – accommodation, office block and completion of the Senate Building that has been on for the past eight years.
“We assured them that we are going to do that, and we have already released 50 percent of the cost for the completion, and also for other two projects that are ongoing.
“You are already seeing for yourself the foundation for the office block for the staff of the institution. They also have another one, which is about to commence, which is the entrepreneurship building for training of the youths.
“So, our promise to our people is very strong on issues of development. Not just on any other area but education and infrastructure development, and we are not going back on it”.
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