Providing road infrastructure in Rivers State is a difficult and costly enterprise because of the rains and terrain. But the Commissioner of Works, Victor Giadom,? in this interview with Lawson Hayford, posits that environmental factors cannot deter the state government from providing world-class facilities for the people because of the passionate disposition of Governor Chibuike? Rotimi Amaechi to fulfill his political promises.
The Amaechi? administration is into its second year in office in his second term as governor of Rivers State. Concerning your area of duty as the Commissioner for Works, how will you assess the performance of this administration?
We have done extremely well as a government in terms of infrastructure, having it mind that the cardinal objective of the Ministry of Works is to provide infrastructure for the development of the state. In Rivers State, under the watch of the government of Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, we have built world-class infrastructure all over the state.
When the governor of Rivers State came into office, what we had in this state was the old 7.3metre-wide roads. Considering the fact that Rives State is the economic destination for oil and gas in Nigeria? and the second largest commercial city in the country, the governor took a bold initiative to see that our roads are given a serious facelift.
If you look at what used to be Elekahia-Rumuomasi Road before Governor Amaechi came into office, what we used to have there was a 7.3metre road; today, the road has been expanded to six lanes, three lanes on both sides. If you look at Ikwerre Road to Agip Roundabout, you will also see that the old road from Education Bus stop to Mile III has also been expanded to six lanes.
If you look at the old Aba Road, from First Bank to Aba Road and CIWA (Catholic Institute of E-West Africa), it has been dualised and in use. If you look at Rumuola Road, it has been dualised and in use. If you look at G.U. Ake Road, it has been dualised and would be completed in the next 30 days.
The Air Force to Ikwerre Road has also been dualised. Definitely, if we take into account the roads we have dualised and have put into use, we won’t leave here today.
We have completed the Obiri-Ikwerre Flyover; it is a world-class flyover. I don’t think there is any flyover like that in the entire South-South and even elsewhere in Nigeria, maybe in Abuja. If anybody drives through that place in the night, he would think he is abroad. Chibuike Amaechi’s government has done extremely well in the provision of roads infrastructure in the state.
Few days ago, we delivered the Mile I Market and even the township market that was burnt a few years ago, I want to assure you that in the next 90 days, we should be able to complete that township market for the public. It is the desire of our governor to ensure that we move the traders off the road. If you go to the town market where the contractors handling the project are now, it is just a matter crossing the t’s and doting the i’s to put finishing touches to the project.
The infrastructure development is not just in Port Harcourt, but in the local government areas, too. We are constructing a road to Andoni where most people did not believe they could drive a car to. If they do, it may only be a dream.
But with that dream today, you can beat your chest that, very soon, you can drive a car to your village. This is one thing that people from there who didn’t believe they can drive cars to, can attest to. This feat without exaggeration, would be completed in two years. I think we have done well in the last one year.
I want to put Rivers people on notice, that in? all the local government in the state, you will find at least three to 10 projects handled by the works ministry of the state.
That is to show that we are not only working in the township, but also in the rural areas. I think the governor has done much and is determined to do more.
In doing all these, are you also considering the channelisation of flood waters in the state capital?
Yes, we are. But we are still finding most parts of the states such as Aba Road, Ikwerre Roads and many others flooded when the rain falls.
One of the biggest problems we have with flooding in Rivers State is the indiscipline amongst members of the public: throwing garbage, empty cans, polythene bags and refuse into the drains.
If I take you to Ikwerre Road, you will see from the de-silting we are doing that the garbage being removed from the drains is because our people do not have the proper culture of ensuring that the drains are not blocked.
Is that the problem that is always reoccurring at Rumuomasi?
Once the drains are blocked, the water would not flow. if you just drive at the tip of the flyover opposite Isaac Boro Park, you will see people from the Ministry of Environment carrying out de-silting.
Once the underground drains are blocked, water can’t flow also inside. So, the underground drains have to be de-silting constantly to allow for free flow of water.
What is the position of the Ada George Road which has been of major concern to the people of the state?
In one week, a section of that road would be delivered. Ada George is a dual carriage road and we expect to deliver one wing of one carriage road in one week. When I talk about one week delivery, I mean that one wing of that carriage road would be ready for public use.
You know, in road construction you have the first layer of construction, which is the layer of Asphalt which is called the binder cot. And we have the second layer, which is called the wearing cot. What is left on Ada George road is the completion of the binder cot.
And the next one week we will complete the binder cot from the beginning to the end to allow for free flow of traffic on Ada George. Having done that, if we can’t continue because of rain, Rivers State would now have a road to traverse through. Where we are now, it is just left with 500 metre to get through because the binding cot is as good as the wearing cot.
When you came into office, it was believed you had a set goal of achievements. It is one year now; how far have you seen to the realisation of these goals?
The Rivers State Works Ministry has carried out 235 road projects. To me, I think these projects are well above what a state should do within such a short period of time. If you ask me, I would say the state has done exceedingly well above what it is expected of it.
The governor of Rivers State is desirous and pushing toward actualising more projects delivery to the people of the state. When the governor came into office, he discovered that infrastructure in the state was comatose, demanding emergency action. That is why the governor is doing what he is doing, of which evidence is there for all to see.
There is the general impression that the pace with which the governor embarked on projects in his first tenure has slowed down in his second tenure; what could be responsible for this?
One thing you should know about road construction is that it is conditioned by environmental factors. If you look at Ada George Road, for example, it was started about two years ago and has been held down by the rains.
Another factor that plays out is the public perception that we are not doing the road as fast as it should have been, but by the time the roads are properly paved with stone base, with .05 and asphalt, it will become something that is visible, something you can feel and see. So, I think we are doing quite well.
In your mission statement, you? aimed at delivering world-class facilities to the state; how far have you leveraged on this since you assumed office?
There is evidence to the fact that we have done that. The Obiri-Ikwerre flyover is one such example of a world-class facility in the state.
The quality of the work we do in the state, the Elekahia/ Rumumasi road, the Stadium Road and many other roads in the state, justify our mission statement. I think we are on course as we stated.
The monorail project seems to be a hard nut to crack as it appears abandoned. This may have justified the public’s fears that it may not be completed before the tenure of this government, what is your take on this?
The monorail project has not been abandoned. Though this project is not under my watch, it belongs to a sister ministry, the Ministry of Transport.? But as a member of the cabinet, I know that the project is ongoing.
Another project that is still agitating the minds of Rivers people is the Trans-Kalabari road. It seems to be on the drawing board for so long; what is the situation with the project now?
Where we are on the project is at the due process office, and as soon as we have the certificate of no objection, we will start work. This road project is important to this government because it will serve as a link between the three Kalabari local government areas of the state.
Let me congratulate you on the commissioning of the Mile I Market. It is one project that has dragged on for too long, but there is still a section of the market that is still being used by traders in makeshift strructures;? what is responsible for this?
Well, very soon, the traders would move to the new structure and construction on Phase 2 will start as I promised the traders during the commisioning of Phase I. The traders have started moving into the shops.
The current capacity of Phase I is 913, but the design for Phase 2 would take above a 1,000 shops. Let me inform you that the town market would be completed by the end of this year.
In the course of carrying out these massive projects, I am sure your ministry may have gone through some challenges. What are these challenges and how have you surmounted them?
Yes, there have been enormous challenges facing us (Ministry of Works) in the state. The problem here is the terrain and the second challenge is rain. It rains almost all through the year. In 2012, the rain started in January. This alone is a huge challenge to the construction industry in Rivers State.
When rain comes, construction has to wait at least three days to allow the grounds to dry before deploying to site. To deliver a road to Ataba, for example, it means you have to reclaim the land completely because of the terrain. In other parts of the country, like in the north and south west, you need not do that.
And let me assure you that what we spend on construction of roads in Rivers State is about three times that of? other places. So road construction here is difficult.
As a way of surmounting these challenges, we encourage our contractors to work within the short period the weather allows. We have adapted to making use of the best period of construction period we have.
I am surprised that you have not mentioned funding as a challenge…
Well, Rivers State government is passionate about delivering infrastructure to its people. This is the only state in Nigeria that is doing the kind of ambitious road projects like the construction and the dualisation of the Omerelu/Airport Road, which is a 32 kilometres.
SETRACO is in charge of the road which spans from the boundary of Imo State to the Port Harcourt International Airport. They have just two kilometres to completion and it cost the state government about N36billion. This explains to you what the state is doing. This is a project that should have been done by the federal government.
The roads that belong to the federal government that Rivers State is building are worth billions in Naira. Some these roads are Ikwerre Road, Ada George Road and Omerelu–Airport road to mention just few.
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