•••Rivers State Govt Signs N195.3 Billion Contract With Julius Berger
•••Dr. George-Kelly applaud Governor Siminalaye Fubara for the laudable project
•••Fubara vows to compensate PH ring-road affected communities
Rivers State Government recently signed N195.3 Billion Naira contract with Julius Berger to build Port Harcourt Ring Road.
Governor Siminalaye Fubara has already released N150 billion for Julius Berger to begin the road project immediately.
The road will be 50.1km long (dual carriage 45km), it will also have 6 flyovers and one river crossing bridge. It will be completed in 36 months (3 years)
The project will began at the UTC junction in Port Harcourt, it will continue to Kidney island then to Eagle Island and a bridge will be built across the river to Mgbodohia community.
The road will continue to Aker road then to St John’s junction in Iwofe road where a flyover will be built, then to Ogbogoro/Uzuoba road, then to NTA/Choba road where a flyover will be built
The road will continue to Rumuosi where a flyover will be built across to Rumuekini at East West road. From there it will continue to Aluu down to the Airport road then to Rukpokwu/Eneka roundabout where a flyover will also be built
It will continue to Igbo Etche community and from there it will continue to Aba road (Iriegbe) where a flyover will also be built. The road will continue into Elelenwo community and get to Agbonchia community in Eleme LGA, from there it continues to Alesa refinery road where the last flyover will be built
“I commend His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara for this legacy project that cuts across several communities in six local government areas, critical government infrastructures and corporate industries that play major role in boosting the economy of the state are targeted in this project; Its social-economic benefits cannot be overemphasised,” says Dr. George-Kelly D. Alabo, FNIQS Monday in Port Harcourt, while giving the project description at the flag-off ceremony of the 50.15KM Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Ring Road project.
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The Rivers State Commissioner for Works maintained that the project has six sections that will run currently. He disclosed that the completion time for the project is three years.
Dr. George-Kelly said the Port Harcourt Ring Road will have six flyovers, one river-crossing bridge, and 19 rotary intersections and roundabouts.
“The road is a total of 50.15km dual carriageway, meaning that, if it was a single carriageway, we would be taking about 100 kilometres.
The project is going to have six flyovers and one river-crossing bridge. The flyovers will be having a total length of 4.8 kilometres. The river-crossing bridge will be 350 metres long. The project is sub divided into two loops, we have the southern loop and the northern loop.
The starting point of the project will be the southern loop, which is the UTC Junction, Port Harcourt. We will go into what looks like a valley there towards Kidney Island and take a curve to get to Rumuji Street. We go left to Uruala Street, then we move on to Iloabuchi Street, meaning that all of these roads will be dual carriageway.
At the end of Iloabuchi Street, we will go left towards Eagle Island. Behind the Agip Oil Company, we are going to put a bridge to cross the river there to Mgbodohia, then we go straight to Aka Road, from there we go right to hit the Olumeni-Epirikom Road.
On that road where you have St. John’s Church, we are going to have a flyover there. And then we go left towards Ogbogoro, then we move on to Ogbogoro-Ozuoba Road. At the Ozuoba Junction on NTA-Choba Road, we are going to put another flyover there, that would be slightly snake in nature because it is going to move all the way into Rumuosi.
We will move from Rumuosi to East-West Road, then we put another flyover across East-West Road to Rumuekini. That is the end of the southern loop.
The northern loop begins from Rumuekini to Aluu, from there, we will hit right to get to the Airport Road, we then go right and get to Elikporkpordu until we get to Elikporkpordu by Ikwerre Road, we will put another flyover there to get to Rukporkwu.
We move into the Rukporkwu-Eneka Road, which will now be dualiazed to get to Eneka Roundabout, we will put another flyover there. Then we will hit the Eneka-Igbo Etche Road then enter into Igbo-Etche community proper, then we go straight through the vegetation and hit Aba Road by Iriebe, where we used to have toll gate. At that point, we will have a roundabout and a flyover.
From Iriebe, we will move in through the vegetation to get to Agbonchia in Eleme LGA. Then we will go right to get to Alesa-Refinery Road, then we will have our final flyover and roundabout there,” the Commissioner added.
In his speech, Rivers State Governor, His Excellency Sir Siminalayi Fubara maintained that beyond traffic decongestion and accessibility, the Port Harcourt Ring Road seeks to futher unite the people of Rivers State.
The Governor said the flag-off ceremony was the beginning of a journey some people thought his administration cannot kick-start.
“This road is not just about connecting Eleme to Etche, it is not just about connecting Etche to Ikwerre; the project is about connecting our people. It is about uniting Rivers people.
“The new Rivers vision is about bringing Rivers people together. It is about making all the ethnic groups in the state to unite for a common goal.
Beyond our individual differences and diversity, I want us to look at this project as something that connects us together,” the Governor stated.
Governor Fubara said the project is going to decongest Port Harcourt City and Obio Akpor because other cities will develop in the state.
He pledged that while his administration is investing in infrastructural development, reasonable attention will be given to education, health, and youth empowerment as well.
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“This project will bring about the development of new cities in Rivers State because there will be accessibility to other towns around Port Harcourt. More investors will come too.
“Let me assure the good people of Rivers State that it is not only the roads that we will attend to, we will invest in health and educational sectors. We will also look at youth empowerment because it is very important,” he said.
On his part, the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike who was the special guest of honour stated that his administration approved the construction of the Port Harcourt Ring Road.
The former governor commended Governor Fubara for starting the project on a solid and positive note.
“Before I left office, the last state executive council meeting that we held which the governor and his deputy attended, we approved that the Port Harcourt Ring Road should be constructed by the next administration.
We attended meetings in Germany with the Commissioner for Works, negotiating with Julius Berger. We thank God Almighty that this project is starting today.
Governor Fubara has shown that he has the will and capacity to carryout project of this magnitude,” he said.
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara has promised to compensate communities that would be affected as a result of the construction of the Port Harcourt ring road project.
The road which has been described as a legacy project by the current administration is expected to traverse six local government areas of the state.
Fubara said the inherent individual differences occasioned by the diverse ethnic groupings notwithstanding, the Port Harcourt Ring Road will serve as a bold effort taken in connecting Rivers people together and fostering greater unity among them.
Governor Fubara stated this at the UTC Junction in Port Harcourt Local Government Area, the venue of the flag-off of the Ring Road project in Port Harcourt on Monday.
He noted that other previous administrations have attempted to execute the project, but could not, and commended his predecessor, Nyesom Wike for initiating the New Rivers vision that is serving as the building template for the radical development of the State as being consolidated by his administration.
He stated, “Today, we are here to put mortar to brick to that contract signing. Some of you had doubts when we signed the contract whether we will start it.
“But we did not just sign it, we have paid for it and we are here to commence the job. The importance of this road is not just connecting Eleme to Etche, Etche to Ikwerre local government areas but connecting our people.”
Fubara, who stressed that there is no meaningful development without road accessibility, urged the various communities that the project will traverse to cooperate with the contractor without sabotaging it. He assured them of timely payment of determined compensations.
Immediate past governor of Rivers State, Wike, who performed the flag-off, recalled how the administration he served as Chief-of-Staff, (making a veiled reference to the Rotimi Amaechi administration) had set money aside but could not muster the political will to do the job.
He lauded Fubara for commencing the Port Harcourt Ring Road project barely weeks after assuming office, adding that such bold initiative shows leadership, describing him as a man of few words but with the utmost capacity to deliver great development to the people of Rivers State.
On his part, the Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Dr. George-Kelly Alabo explained that the Port Harcourt Ring Road project is 50.15km long and has varied widths of between 7.6m and 29.2m where there are service lanes with 6 flyovers and one river crossing bridge.
