EAST-WEST ROAD: FG WORKING ON PERMANENT COMPLETION SOLUTION

By Moses EMORINKEN
THE Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has assured Nigerians that steps are being taken to provide a permanent solution for the completion of section 4 of the East-West road measuring 15 kilometres from Onne Port Junction to Eleme Port Junction in Rivers State.
The Minister, according to a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Ministry, Blessing Lere – Adams, gave this assurance during a meeting with the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana in his office at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja.
The statement explained that due to public concerns, the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, who handed over the supervision of the road to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing early this year, wrote to inform the Minister of Works and Housing of their decision to do some remedial works on the road through the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Furthermore, based on the advice of Directors from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing who inspected the road last month and discovered that its cardinal problem is lack of drainage, Fashola decided that a permanent and holistic approach should be taken so that the problem is put to rest because without the drainage, whatever work that is done on the road will not last.
It added that already, a request for additional funding to complete the work has been sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement to obtain a Certificate of No Objection (approval) expeditiously so that the work can be completed.
Fashola assured the people of the area and other road users that the Federal Government is committed to the completion of the road as well as other roads across the nation, he opined is President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration’s priority to enhance impactful socio-economic development, and therefore craved the patience and understanding of communities along the East-West road axis.