Delta State Government, Tuesday, said Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was seriously disturbed by the hardship caused motorists plying the Benin-Asaba highway, particularly the failed portions of the road.
The State Commissioner for Works, (Rural and Riverine Roads), Mr Charles Aniagwu, disclosed this while addressing journalists at Dennis Osadebay Way in Asaba.
He lamented that the diversion of heavy duty trucks from the failed portions of the Asaba end of the Benin-Asaba highway was harming the durability of internal roads in Asaba, the state capital.
Aniagwu said despite the state government’s numerous intervenions on Federal Government roads through inter-ministerial approaches, a lot still needed to be done.
He said the state government was not unaware of the state of Dennis Osadebay Way and called on the people to be patient till the rainy season eased off.
Aniagwu said, “The state of the federal road being worked upon has created some ancillary challenges for us within the city, especially along the Dennis Osadebay Way here in Asaba.
“The diversions are causing a serious threat to our inner roads. As a government, there are a number of roads we are working on within the capital territory.
“We are hopeful that, as the rains recede in November, we will carry out a number of repairs on our internal roads and we plead with our people to be patient with us.”
Aniagwu, who had earlier inspected ongoing rehabilitation work on failed portions of the Benin-Asaba highway at Bonsaac and Ezenei junction, commended the Federal Government for heeding the cry of the people for prompt intervention.
Flanked by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir Festus Ahon, the Acting Federal Comptroller of Works, Engr Matthew Ogar, and top officials of the ministry, Aniagwu said; “we are disturbed not just because it is contributing to the destruction of our internal roads, through the number of diversions of heavy duty trucks into our streets, but also because Nigerians are going through a whole lot of stress commuting around the corridor.
“The last time we came here, they brought materials and today now a whole lot of work is going on here.
“The stress on this road is affecting our internal roads and it’s causing a whole lot of stress to commuters and whether they live in Delta or not, we want people to move freely.
“This is a major artery to the South Eastern part of this country and we pray that, after now, the Federal Government will devise a means to ensure that this road doesn’t get to this level before the intervention comes.
“Those big trucks are not meant to run on the trunk B and C roads and that is another challenge we have to grapple with.”
He urged the contractor to make arrangements for flood lights to enable them work at night and appealed to motorists to cooperate with the contractor to enable them work seamlessly.
On the viral video of a Sapele resident protesting the poor state of a road in the area, Aniagwu said Governor Oborevwori couldn’t have stooped so low to order for the arrest of the protester, adding that ”the state government does not gag citizens”.
Aniagwu added, “I am sure some of you have travelled with us to Sapele town and you saw that we are constructing as much as 16km of roads in Sapele Town alone.
“This is because, when the Governor came, he saw the need to give Sapele a face lift and I was saddled with the responsibility of getting our engineers to move round Sapele to identify a number of roads as part of efforts to renew that urban centre.”
He stressed, “It is unfortunate that one of our brothers, possibly for some other consideration, decided to make it look like nothing is happening.
“In actual fact, we do not frown at anybody who wants government’ s attention, because it is in the place of the citizen to demand.
But the issue is that we already, without any prompting, moved into Sapele having awarded as many as 12 different roads in Sapele and the people of the city can testify to it.
“If it happens that there is one road we have not attended to, we appeal for patience because we cannot develop everywhere at once.
“The Governor did not, at any time, ask anybody to go and arrest the young man; we believe that once we are done with the roads we are working on in Sapele, just as we are working across the 25 local government areas, other roads will be looked into.
“If Governor Oborevwori is building 16km of road spanning 12 roads in one town, it goes to show that the MORE Agenda is working very well for the people; so, we appeal to our people to show understanding so that it won’t look like because your street has not been touched it means every other place has not been touched.
“For those assuming that we got him arrested, the Governor did not, at any time, issue any directive to anybody to arrest the protester.
“We are not just building roads; we are also controlling flood through the construction of storm drainages to help us mitigate the effect of floods even as we are building several roads across the state.”
Earlier, the Acting Federal Comptroller of Works, Mr Ogar, harped on the importance of the road as a major connection to the popular Onitsha Market, adding that the Federal Government had awarded a contract for the reconstruction from the bridge head to Alifikede boundary town between Delta and Edo State.
He said the contractor had earlier mobilised to site at the Alifikede section before the Asaba end collapsed totally. Mr Ogar assured that the government was working on providing a permanent solution by constructing drainage along the corridor.