Rivers Approves Contract For Sixth Flyover

Rivers State Government has approved a contract for the construction of a sixth flyover to ease traffic congestion in Port Harcourt.

A statement by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, said a new flyover to be located at the Kaduna Street Junction of Aba Road, was expected to change the aesthetic beauty of Port Harcourt and boost the economic activities of the state.

The statement quoted the Commissioner for Works, Eloka Tasie-Amadi, as saying that the decision to approve the contract for the sixth flyover was taken during the State Executive Council meeting in Port Harcourt at the weekend.

He said: “The Rivers State Executive Council presided over by His Excellency, the Governor of Rivers State, has approved a contract for the construction of a flyover at the Kaduna Street junction of Aba Road in Port Harcourt and also approved the award of the contract to Messer Julius Berger.

“The construction will involve a bridge of 593 meters and service lanes of about 770 meters. The reason behind this is that you will observe that the bridge (at Kaduna Street Junction) is a two-lane bridge. And we are going to make it a four-lane bridge, dual carriage.”

Tasie-Amadi explained that at the completion of the Rumuogba, GRA junction and Rumuola flyovers all other bridges on Aba Road would be four lanes (dual carriage) with additional four lanes on the ground.

He said the development would create a bottleneck at the Kaduna Street junction bridge following the free-flow of traffic from the Rebisi Flyover.

He said: “We, also recognise that there are implications when you have broken down vehicle on that bridge and possible security challenge when you have a broken down vehicle at night.

“So, these are the reasons why the Executive Council took this decision. We have also chosen Julius Berger to do the construction because of their track record as evidence from the recently commissioned Rebisi Flyover and the projects they are handling at the moment.”

The Commissioner said the Kaduna Street Junction flyover project would be completed in under 12 months.

Alao speaking, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, said the approval by the State Executive Council was a demonstration of a commitment to the urban renewal vision of Governor Wike’s administration.

He said: “This new flyover will also beautify the city; the aesthetics will change, economic activities will also get a boost. We have seen this kind of passionate commitment to restore Port Harcourt to its Garden City status.

“At a time when governance has shutdown in various states of the federation because of COVID-19, the visionary government led by His Excellency, Nyesom Wike is still rolling out projects.

“This kind of development we are seeing in the State is a pointer to the service delivery and the commitment of His Excellency to ensure that social contract he has with Rivers State people is not affected by the economic downturn in the country.”

Nsirim maintained that the governor had continued to change the narrative about governance, striving assiduously to make Rivers State a model.

He said the governor at the inception of his administration said he would ensure that Rivers became a destination of choice for investors.

“What is happening within the state capital at this point in history is a confirmation that Rivers State, particularly, Port Harcourt, will become investors choice in years to come.

“Our appeal to citizens of the State is that the time has come to rally round this administration; shun distractors of government, shun those who are out to de-market the State.

“It is time to be united as a people and then come together to work with this visionary government to ensure that the purpose, the New Vision blueprint as enunciated since 2015 comes to fruition as has been articulated.”