The Rivers State Executive Council has approved N80.9 billion for the construction of the 33.5-kilometre-long Elele-Omoku Road.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Mr Atemea Briggs, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the council’s meeting, presided over Gov. Siminalayi Fubara, at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Briggs said that the project would be funded from the savings made from the state’s Internally Generated Revenue.
He further said that the project would traverse the three Local Government Areas of Ikwerre, Emohua and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni.
He said that it would be completed within 24 months from the commencement date.
Briggs said that the road would be expanded from its current 7.3 meters width single lane to a dual carriageway.
“The proposed road width now is 7.8 meters to be asphalted fully with a road shoulder of 2.5 meters width.
“I will like to mention that along this road, we have several kilometers of low land, wherein to build a road shall require replacement, filling of the ground by more than three meters high.
“The contractor can only achieve it through hydraulic sandfilling and using laterite.
“And you know how costly these are,” he said.
Briggs further said that a 99-meters-long bridge would be built on the road side-by-side the existing one between Egbeda and Omoku.
Throwing more light on the road project, the Acting Director-General of the State Bureau of Public Procurement, Ine Briggs, said that all the road projects being undertaken by the present administration “scaled through due diligence and quality assurance, duly certified for delivery to Rivers people.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, also spoke on the success of the accreditation conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria at the state College of Nursing Sciences.
Oreh said that the state School of Nursing was recently upgraded to the College of Nursing Sciences with its admission capacity increased to 142 per cent, in addition to the 400 capacity classroom block constructed for both midwifery and nursing students.
Oreh said that the upgrade of the primary healthcare system with modern facilities would enhance healthcare services in the state.
According to her, the state emerged the winner of the South-South Zonal Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge convened by UNICEF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.
She said that the State Government and UNICEF had entered into a new partnership to donate an oxygen manufacturing plant and equipment for the neonatal unit at the Eleme General Hospital.
She also said that the governor had given approval for the implementation of the state Contributory Health Protection Programme, which is the State Health Insurance Scheme.
“The Federal Government, National Health Insurance Authority and Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare have all been notified, so that all the processes needed for the enrollment of the citizens and residents of Rivers in the health insurance scheme, especially our vulnerable population, can immediately commence,” Oreh said.
Also, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Johnson, said that the state exco agreed to set up a five-member committee, comprising the Commissioners of Agriculture, Urban Development, Permanent Secretary of Lands and Surveyor-General “to deal with the issues of land grabbing.
“All that will be put together within the week and exco will also provide all the necessary requirements for that committee to conclude its job within record time,” Johnson said.
(NAN)
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