The contract for the quick re-construction of the East/West road linking Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States was awarded in 2003, but to the consternation of the people of the three states, the reconstruction has moved at a snail speed. Those plying the road have been at the receiving end, as their vehicles are often damaged and several lives lost to avoidable accidents on the ever busy inter-state road.
Speaking with InsideNigerDelta, a respondent, Mr Festus Obach, noted that the road was so bad that the dual carriage portion had been converted to single carriage road, and that the many accidents on the road could have been avoided, but for the condition of the road.
Another respondent, Madam Florence Jaja, noted that the road was completely bad, and that one could not keep appointments owing to the wastage on manhour caused by the port holes and bumps.
She lamented the politicisation of the situation of the road by the governments at the centre and at the state which had continued to trade blames over the condition.
According to her, “my greatest regret is the fact that I lost an uncle on this same road in January”, adding that if the rate of work was fast enough, her uncle might not have died.
A commercial driver, Mr Johnson Ayodele from Osun State, said they hardly met their target returns for the day because the condition of the road often made them make less than 5 trips, adding that if both sides of the road had been completed, commuters would be able to make 10 to 13 trips on a daily basis.
He also noted that the construction work in the area had been subjected to political wrangling; hence, the work had continued to move at snail speed with no hope in sight that it would be completed.
Susan Amadi, an undergraduate of the University of Port Harcourt, expressed regret over slow pace of work on the East/West road, which she described as an important road to the people of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.
A lecturer at the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Mr Awele Chinedu, said the condition of the road forced him to relocate from Ahoada to Bayelsa in order to get to work on time, adding that if the dual carriage road was completed, it could have been easier for him to live in his Ahoada resident while working in Bayelsa.
SOURCE; http://www.tribune.com.ng/niger-delta/item/13820-furore-over-condition-of-port-harcourt-bayelsa-road
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