Govt Records Success in Urban Renewal, Rural Integration Programmes By Dominic Okonta In spite of the difficult terrain which bedeviled road development and maintenance across the Niger Delta States, Delta State Government has constructed over 1,618 kilometers (km) of roads and 514 km of drains under various programmes of Urban Renewal, Rural Integration, Highway development and Drainage Sewerage, Bridge development, Flyover and others since inception in 2007. Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, dropped the hint, during the opening ceremony of the 21st Edition of the National Council on Works in Asaba, yesterday. The Governor who was represented by the state Commissioner for Works, Hon. Funkekeme Solomon noted that the difficult terrain have made the execution of roads and bridges projects very costly, reaching billions per kilometer in the swampy areas of the state, especially the central and southern parts of the state, which is plagued with the presence of rivers and rivulets requiring many bridges and other hydraulic structures. Under minding these difficulties, the state government still embarked on Urban Renewal programme which aimed at modernising road/transportation infrastructure to improve traffic flow and reduce man-hour loss due to traffic congestions. His words, ‘’over 345km of urban roads have been completed and another 152km are at various stages of completion’’. Under its Rural/Urban road programme, over 614km length of roads amounting to N62bn have been completed, the roads would facilitate the evacuation of agricultural produce, stem Rural/Urban migration, while another 212km length amounting to about N47bn are at various stages of completion. The Highways Development programme of the state, which he said, aimed at promoting economic activities and improved movement of goods and services across the state would boost socio/economic development of the state, over 659km of highway have been completed, while another 277km are at various stages of completion. The state he said, has completed 17 bridges, most of them are about 600m length, at the cost of N16.8bn, ‘‘another 25 bridges costing over N23.7bn are at stages of completion. The construction of the two going flyover projects in Asaba and Effuru, awarded at over N7.7bn have reached advanced stages and are scheduled for completion in December 2014. A third has been awarded in Warri at the cost of N3.6bn,’’he said. The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Dr. Abubakar Muhammad while briefing the press said that the coming of President Goodluck Jonathan has enhanced the socio-economic development of the state, by attracting investors. Good roads he said, attracts investors, and ‘‘when investors come into the country, they boost the economy of the country, the success of this national Council of Works meeting would pave way for socio-economic development across the nation.’’.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 04:47:27 +0000