BAYELSA SEEK FG SUPPORT FOR 3 SENATORIAL ROAD PROJECTS TO BOOST STATE AND FEDRAL ECONOMIES

05/07/2013
BAYELSA SEEK FG SUPPORT FOR 3 SENATORIAL ROAD PROJECTS TO BOOST STATE AND FEDRAL ECONOMIES

 Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson has solicited the support of the Federal Government to enable it complete the Nembe – Brass, Ekeremor- Agge and Yenagoa- Oporoma- Koluama road projects  in the State.

According to Hon. Dickson, the request has become imperative inview of the huge financial costs of the roads and their strategic importance to the socio-economic development of the state as well as the need to properly harness the oil and gas potentials in the Brass area and the proposed Deep sea port in Agge.Speaking when a delegation of the House of Representatives Committee on Works and top officials of the Federal Ministry of Works called him at Government House, Yenagoa, the Governor noted that the state has the least number of federal roads and infrastructures in the country, stressing that that the terrain and the riverine nature of the state have made the cost of executing such  road projects very high for the State to solely undertake.

 “ You will notice in course of your painstaking oversight visit that Bayelsa State probably has the least number of federal roads, the least federal infrastructures and presence in terms of infrastructures. We have less than a hundred kilometre  of federal roads, and that is appalling.“ You would have also seen the challenges that our environment presents which are very peculiar. With all the construction we are doing, people say we have turned the state into a massive construction yard. That’s what we promised, that’s what we are doing and that’s what the people  deserved.

“ But I know the cost of doing one kilometre of road is such that you can use it to construct twenty kilometres of road else where.”Expressing appreciation to the committees’ visit to inspect the Yenagoa- Okarki- Kolo road project, Hon. Dickson pointed out that the road had been on the drawing board for a long time and want the speedy completion of the project boost economic activities in the state, while also calling on the federal government to support the State in the completion of the Nembe- Brass road, which he stated will gulp over a hundred billion naira.“ We would like the federal government to construct a road, not only finishing the one from Yenagoa through Okarki to Kolo, but take a road from Nembe to Brass.

We are contemplating that, but the resources are not available because of the terrain. I sent in three contractors to do the costing and the cheapest we can get is hundred billion naira. The road and others lead to the atlantic ocean, and as I have always said in this state’ our wealth as a State and Country beyond oil and gas, is the access to the atlantic and we are not taking advantage of it as a State and Country”.

Earlier, the House Committee Chairman on Works, Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi said the visit which is an oversight function of the National Assembly, was to inspect on-going work at the 33.5 kilometre Yenagoa- Okarki- Kolo road with a view to ensuring that the project  is not  compromised and  executed according to specification and with the right materials.Hon. Ozomgbachi, while expressing the commitment of the visiting team to ensure the speedy completion of federal projects, lauded Governor Seriake Dickson for his achievements so far noting that “ the House of Representative is proud of one of its own”. 

Daniel Iworiso-Markson
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State