DELTA: Residents Groan under the Yoke of Bad Roads, Flood

Delta state residents groan under the yoke of bad roads, floods

Government: Blame it on the rain; help is near

Orogun/Ughelli road

 Anybody who has lived or is living in the Oil City of Warri, the economic hub of Delta State, knows that the rainy season is not a good time. Inhabitants of the city and its twin, Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area of the state, dread that time of the year when the heavens opened up incessantly, pouring oodles of water into the haphazardly laid city. The fear of the season also stems from the anguish, suffering, dirt and diseases that come with human from overflowing septic pits pouring into the streets and living rooms.

The rain seasons of the past of years have been mostly unwholesome and inhospitable for the cities’ dwellers that battle unyielding floods, revolting nature and bad roads. The headaches of denizens of the area, like most parts of the state, are worsened by lack of drainages and blockade of natural water channels; the mosquitos that come with stagnant pools of water and the damages that bad roads do to cars and other means of transportations. The state of roads, not only in Warri, but across parts of the state, has worsened over the past few months. 

Extensive check on condition of roads in the areas showed that over 95 per cent of roads in Warri metropolis and adjoining suburbs are in dire need of repairs. Except for the recently dualised Refinery Road and network of roads in the Odogun (New) Layout in Uvwie, built by the Direct Labour Agency (DLA) and Okumagba Avenue in Warri among others, there is hardly a road in the area that is not fraught with fissures. The situation is worse in Abraka and not much better in Ughelli, Agbarho, Sapele and other parts of the state.

EFFURUN/SAPELE ROAD AFTER BRT PROJECT

The Airport Road (dualised by Ibori and inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in April 2004) is punctuated by dozens of potholes of varying sizes from Effurun-Warri junction to Court 4 and various sections are washed away by water. A pitiable attempt to resurface the road left residents and motorists seething from poor job done by the construction companies, which is reportedly owned by PDP stalwarts in the state.

“Why would a government leave roads that are badly in need of repairs and come to scatter the one that is good in the name of resurfacing? That tells you that the government is not focused and is only interested in settling a few persons,” a resident, who simply identified himself as Chuks, fumed last Friday at the GTB axis of the road where the job was ongoing.

The PTI/Jakpa road, which was dualised by the administration of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2009 is not faring any better. Apart from been cut off at the Sokoh Estate junction by an end-to-end cavern, the road built by Niger Cat Construction Company, is riddled with potholes around the Canewood Hotel, White House and several other sections and junctions.

The story is the same for the Okere, Emebiren and Esisi roads as well as network of roads within the Marine Quarters, Ovie Palace, Sokoh Estate, Commissioner and several roads in the cities.

Roads in Ubeji, a serene community in Warri South, are as pothole-ridden as their counterparts in the mainland. Traffics in and out of the one-access-road community are so knotty that it sometimes takes hours to navigate to the NPA expressway from the town – a distance of about one kilometer – during the rush hours.

PTI/Osubi Junction on the EAST/WEST ROAD

The federal roads in the areas are worse off. The Warri-Effurun-Sapele road has gone from being one of the best roads to the deadliest nightmares for motorists. The dual carriage road stretching from NPA to the Effurun roundabout is in ruin due to the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) initiative of the past government.

The plan to expand the road in order to create an exclusive bus-only middle-lane hit a snag when the planners realized, late, that a further expansion is needed to increase the incoming and outgoing traffics to double lanes. Bus stops (built on the centre of the road) coupled with concrete barriers separating lanes have not only reduced the road, but have made driving a big test and a course in patience and control. A broken down vehicle (or tricycle) on the now one-lane can unleash chaos.

The NPA Expressway is not faring any better. The nearly four-decade highway has withstood a lot – heavy duty vehicles, tankers loading products at the WRPC Depot and several other vehicles use it. But the road seems to be saying ‘enough is enough’. The constantly gathering pools of water from the Bypass and Ogunu area and other parts have started taking their toll. Traffic from the port complex to other parts are now diverted to the incoming lane to avoid the pits that have secretly crept in and taken over the road over the past years. The road has deteriorated further because of the stoppage of the routine maintenance usually done by the past administration.

The expressway pours into the East/West Highway at Effurun roundabout in a three branches: one going into Warri via Effurun; the other to and fro Benin and Port Harcourt (through Ughelli/DSC roundabout). The onward Port Harcourt road has also deteriorated these past months, especially between the PTI Conference Centre and Woodridge Hotel, where it is now more of an earth road than a federal highway.

Mr Aaron Aghorigho, a businessman, told our reporter that before car owners leave their homes to the office every morning, they need careful plotting of routes in order to avoid the most pothole-plagued roads like Sokoh Estate Road, Housing Complex Road (Ekpan), Alegbo, Ugbolokposo and NPA Bypass among others.

“Unfortunately, the options are becoming fewer by the day as one road after the other gives way to potholes and become gutters. You cannot truly avoid them; you can only calculate the ones with lesser bad spots, the width and depth and decide if the pain of crashing your car through them is worth the mission. For most routes, you do not have that luxury, especially when the crooked road is the only option,” he said with a sardonic smile.

Investigations by Niger Delta Report revealed that the appalling condition of roads around Warri and other parts of Delta state is not due to lack of efforts by the government. The immediate past governments in the state and the Niger Delta Development Commission have invested billions of naira in the construction of access roads, rehabilitation and dualisation of major roads in the city and other parts of the state.

A Commission for Works, Mr Funkekeme Solomon in 2012, disclosed that 252 inter/intra city and rural road contract projects were awarded at a total cost of over N114 billion. Fifty-eight drainage contracts were also awarded at over N1.7billion from 2007 to 2012. The projects covered dualisation of roads in Asaba, Warri, Effurun and other parts of the state, major Federal highways and several other projects. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is also very active in the state.

Sadly though, the investments in roads construction and repairs are undermined by a combination of factors including poor and shoddy project executive with little or no supervision. Our finding revealed that some of the contracts were awarded for political. 

Mr John Aruoture, a lawyer and blogger, opined that corruption is at the root of the dreadful state of roads in the Warri and environs.  According to him, “If not for corruption, many streets and roads in Warri budgeted for construction would have been completed by either the state government or NDDC.”

It was also gathered that one of the devils tormenting roads in the state is lack of efficient and effective drainage system, in spite of several billions of naira that has been sunk into draining the oil city.

Our finding reveals that even the occasional showers result in flooding on major roads and streets due to absence of effective drains. In places where roads are built with drains the water are stagnant because the drains are blocked or lead nowhere.

“What the state need is a holistic drainage system that not only collects water, but takes it out of cities.

FLOOD RAVAGED JAKPA ROAD

What we have are mostly gutters that lead to nowhere; when they are full, they pour into the roads and floor everywhere. That is bad for the state of the road,” Mr Moses Uwakhonye, a civil engineer, averred.

Furthermore, it was learnt that the problem of flood in Warri and environs is compounded by the jinxed ADB-Assisted Water Project, which nearly 20-year-old underground network of pipelines are constantly rupturing and erupting like volcano on Airport, PTI/Jakpa, Housing Complex and other major roads in the twin cities of Effurun/Warri during tests. The hope that the project would pump water to homes and not continue to be unwanted fountains on the streets is dying along with the Governor Uduaghan administration.

Our finding revealed that intra-city roads in the university town of Abraka and those in Ughelli; those linking communities in Ughelli North and South, including the Abraka-Orogun- Agbarha-Otor- Ughelli and Sapele metropolis are badly in need of repairs that may not come soon as a section of state fears that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa might concentrate on roads in the state capital and Delta North area to the detriment of those areas because roads in Agbor, Issele-Uku, Ibuzor and others are also awful.

“We know that the governor is now mostly focused on his part of the state and nobody expects him to pay much attention to Delta Central and South districts because that is the kind of politics we play in this part of the world. It is unfortunate that our own people couldn’t do it all these times. The dualisation road projects started by Uduaghan may not have been abandoned, but there is little or no hope for them now,” a commercial driver at the Effurun-Abraka Park in Uvwie LGA lamented to our reporter.

Okowa is committed to Prosperous Delta -  Aide

In his reaction, Mr Victor Efeizomor, media aide to Governor Okowa, assured that the governor remained committed to his promise to make the state prosperous for all.

“It should be on record that the Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has vowed to remained focused as his administration has begun to match words with action in its bid  to fulfill  electioneering promises to the people of Delta State.

 “You will recall that the government not too long embarked on the inspection of some sectors of the construction work on the Asaba/ Ughelli road dualization. He also carried out inspection tour on some major roads in the state, including Warri and its environs, with the intention of ensuring that the project continues. Also, the state government made available funds for the rehabilitation of failed portions  of the Asaba –Ughelli road  near Ogwashi- Uku.

“Similarly, the government earlier embarked on the desalting of drainages across the state to provide immediate temporary solution to the issue of flooding being face by our people in most communities across the three senatorial districts.”

Efeizomor blamed the slow pace of road construction and repairs on the season. He said there was very little government can do under the prevailing incessant rain. “Once the rains give way, the issue of bad roads in all the three senatorial districts of the state will be given adequate attention.

“On the issue BRT, government has not abandoned it; rather plans are on to inject fresh life into the system for improved transportation system in the state.  Okowa’s administration means well for the state, he is desirous of leaving Delta far better than he met it. We are open and welling to partner with all those who have the interest of the state at heart.”

 END