Attention has been called to the deplorable condition of the East-West road by Daily Trust newspapers in its Editorial which links five Niger Delta states of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom which has been rendered almost impassable.
This road, the paper said is in dire need of repairs as the condition becoming worse with every passing day causing motoring accidents on a daily basis.
Worrying is the fact that the road is cutting off Nigeria's largest concentration of industrial concerns.
Read the Editorial below:
''It is over two weeks since the Eleme section of the East-West Road in Rivers State became virtually impassable following the collapse of the bridge at that point. The breakdown has thrown that section into a worst case scenario, with commuters handicapped, accidents featuring fatalities rife. Also significant is the fact that it has left stranded, an economic hub that hosts, perhaps, Nigeria’s largest concentration of critical industrial concerns.
Stranded within the zone are several landmark national investments with an estimated cumulative value of $50 billion. These investments include the two Port Harcourt refineries and petrochemicals plant at Eleme, the NotoreFertilizer plant and a large collection of local as well as foreign owned maritime and oil service companies which are based in Onne. Some key government establishments that remain cut off include the Nigerian Naval College, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA). The aggregate down-time for all of these agencies due to the collapse of the Eleme Bridge is to say the least monumental.
In the past two years the state of the road had been of concern, such that the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike had to meet with affected federal government agencies as well as stakeholders. The effort yielded an intervention fund of N3billion for the repair of sections of the road. However, that sum constitutes only a pittance compared to what is required to avail the road the desired face-lift and sustainable structural integrity. And the present collapse of the Eleme Bridge has only escalated the crisis on the road and constitutes the high point of its woes and the discomfort of commuters plying that route.
Lamentably the present state of affairs remains a result of serial neglect of an incipient crisis by the authorities since the ugly development has been waiting to happen for a long time. Soon after its completion in the 1990s the entire length of the road which links five state of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom started witnessing structural failures at its various sections in a manner that betrayed poor construction practice in its development. Given the predominantly marshy terrain in which it is located and the heavy load it routinely bears due to the heavy equipment used by the predominant oil and gas companies that use the road, its construction was expected to match the heavy usage it would be subjected to. However, the reverse has been the case ever since its commissioning.
Meanwhile, the response of the federal government to its maintenance challenges had at best been tepid, leaving the connected states to provide the only viable maintenance on it and with the section of the road that traverses their territories. And the affected states had not been happy over this state of affairs. It is easily recalled that in 2014, the poor state of the road along with the complacency of the government was the subject of altercationbetween the then Governor of River State, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, and the then Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, over the maintenance of the road.
In the context of the present state of affairs it remains imperative for government to address itself to the restoration of the Eleme Bridge with immediate effect, in order to relieve the stranded communities as well as establishments whose operations have been crippled. This should be followed with a robust initiative to effect a complete make-over of the road to a state of sustainable capacity to deliver service as envisaged. Also to be considered as a priority is the construction of a rail line along that route for the purpose of taking much of the stress on the road from the heavy haulage associated with the oil and gas industry.''
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