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NDDC links community with N2.8bn
bridge
TONY ITA ETIM,
Port Harcourt
A WHOPPING N2.8 billion project to
link Iwuochang mainland to a community of 13 villages, embarked upon by the
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), will soon bring civilisation to the
riverine area which had long been forgotten since its establishment in 1944.
Already, work is nearing completion on the escavation and
dredging of the swampy surface leading to the bank of the Qua Iboe River upon
which the 600-metre long,12-metre high bridge would cross to Okoroutip all in
Ibeno local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
At the project site where the indigenous
firm handling the project, Viche Nigeria Limited, assembled its team of
engineers, the unfamiliar terrain of the riverine community was enough to
discourage them but for the full complement of heavy duty equipment such as
swamp boogie with which they subdued the difficult terrain with.
The boogie clears the swamp of the dirty
water beneath to create a stream which is subsequently filled with sand procured
from the river with the help of the heavy duty dredger menacingly scooping sand
from beneath the Qua Iboe river.
The outcome of this exercise was the solid
base recovered from the swamp upon which the 6.87 kilometres road from Iwuochang
leading to the foot of the bridge will be constructed.
With just about three weeks to conclude
the sand-filling phase, there is hope that the road soon to be completed, will
equally hasten work on the 600 metres long bridge across the river.
With just two pairs of pillars to the
river bank on Okoroutip soil the engineers were confident that the bridge would
be completed in record time once the pillars were formed ready for the surface
to run across to the other side of the river.
The bridge which is to be 12-metres high
is with the vertical curve profile design which will enable vessels navigate
through the river to the Atlantic Ocean.
The benefiting communities have expressed
happiness on the project, commending both the Federal Government and the NDDC.
Village head of Okoroutip Obong Daniel
Utong told Daily Champion, that the construction of the road linking the
bridge to the 13 villages would be highly appreciated by the residents of the
communities.
Obong Utong, who commended both President
Olusegun Obasanjo and the leadership of NDDC, urged government to see to the
speedy completion of the project in the interest of the villagers.
"You see, I will tell you to go and tell
Obasanjo that my prayer is that he should live long; it is Obasanjo who signed
for the light, he signed for the road, he signed for the bridge and he even
signed for the dredging.
"We are still crying to him to hire a
contractor to construct a deck for us.
"He is not from Akwa Ibom, he is from Ogun
State, but Obasanjo has done what everybody here is praying for him. He should
tell the contractors to quickly finish the job here because you know when
Obasanjo leaves office, the person coming after him may not remember us.
"So, we want this project to be completed
during his tenure.
He also urged the NDDC to ensure that the
contractor is monitored so that the project could be completed on schedule.
The 69-year-old Obong Utong, a retired
teacher since 1985, who stated that the completion of the road project would
also make the area to have a motor park, declared: "On the whole, NDDC is doing
well."
Also, giving kudos to NDDC for the road
project is the chairman of Iwuochang village council, Chief Ukpai Iwuocha, who
described it as nice.
Said he: "For us to have a road from
Iwuocha to Okoroutip is a nice project that would benefit us because using the
boat all the time is not good for us."
"We used to reach there (Okoroutip)
through ferry, either speed boat or engine boat. It will carry us from there to
Okorotu and bring Okorotu people here. If a person from Okoroutip wants to visit
Eket, he or she must enter a boat before getting to Iwuochang.
Further commending the NDDC for renovating
the Iwuochang town hall, he appealed to the commission to ensure that the
contractor not only completes the job on schedule, it should ensure that the
road linking the bridge is straightened "because as I am seeing it now, there
are many sharp bends."
Eagerly awaiting the completion of this
project are the villagers from Okoroutip to Eastern Opolou who are anxious to
witness the day a car or even a motorcycle will touch their soil with the help
of the bridge under construction.
The reason for their eagerness could be
understood given the frustration that has lived with them since 1944 when the
village was founded.
They move around on foot while the only
means of inter-village transportation has remained the canoe which had made life
unbearable even for their forefathers.
The only school on the island which is just eight nautical
miles to the Atlantic Ocean; Qua Iboe Church Primary School built by
missionaries is dilapidated with the 1,500 pupils clamped in a big hall not
demarcated as class rooms, with the roofs dislocated, leaving the pupils
unprotected and without the opportunity to concentrate.
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