Agency rehabilitates 40 roads in one month
By Chika Madu, Port Harcourt
When Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State took oath office on May 29, 2015, the first function he performed was the launch of “Operation Zero Pothole” in Port Harcourt. Part of the efforts at achieving the goal was the appointment of Mr. Sam Agwo as chairman, Rivers State Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Agency (RSRMRA).
And in less than two months, over 40 roads were rehabilitated by the agency. This resulted in watchers of events in the state saying that Wike did not make any mistake in the appointment of Agwo.
After a recent inspection of some of the projects being executed by the agency he said: “What we are trying to do is to ensure that flood doesn’t affect our work. We will try as much as we can, not to get into construction of gutters and drainages. It is not really our work, unless we get approval from the governor. We are only one month old in office, you can see what we have done, by the time we are older, we will go places.”
Apparently referring to the Rumualogu-Choba Road: “We think the manhole there will be opened to channel the water, to solve that problem once and for all. We will try as much as possible to ensure that our work is protected. Rumualogu project is purely a case of water gathering on the road. We are making efforts to get the approval of the governor to enable us tackle that flooding there.” He said the flooding on the road could be tackled permanently, by channeling the water to the nearby river, though, subject to governor’s approval.
“If we need to do that, we need the approval of the governor, but we try to distill the drainages and gutters where we work, so that water will not disrupt our work. We are doing a remedial work there, but we hope the governor will give us approval to construct the drainages or take over the responsibility, we will appreciate that.”
Agwo listed some of the rehabilitated roads to include, Abuloma Jetty, measuring about 150 metres; Mandela Car Wash, Birabi, Orogbum Crescent by Onne Road, all in G.R,A Phase 2, Port Harcourt. Others are, Geogetic Road, Rumuomasi, Obiri Ikwerre, by East-West Road, Rumuokoro by UBA and Harbor-Odual Road in old Township.
He expressed optimism that the flooding at Rumualogu-Choba Road would not affect the work done there. He hinged his belief on the fact that they have distilled the gutters and drainages, to ensure that the roads last longer. He commended Wike for supporting the agency, which according to him, made the achievements recorded so far possible. He assured Rivers people that the agency would not let them down in the discharge of its duties.
The Site Engineer, Mrs. Comfort Kabari, explained that the road got bad because of water logging. She said by the rehabilitation, “the agency is trying to restore the failed portion of the road, by putting asphalts on it.” She re-echoed the fact that permanent solution to the bad spot would be channeling of the water through a culvert to the river across the road. She accused business firms around the area of discharging waste water directly on the road, and warned that if the practice persisted, the neighborhood risk being flooded.
Narrating his ordeal, a resident of Odual area, through Harbour Road under rehabilitation, Egu Kaniku, expressed happiness that the users of the road and residents of the area could now heave a sigh of relief following the rehabilitation work by the agency.
He commended Wike, whom he described as a visionary leader: “We are happy and grateful to the visionary governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, for the initiative.”