Communities Protest Dilapidated Gelegele River Port Road

Communities Protest Dilapidated Gelegele River Port Road

By Adibe Emenyonu

Commuters were yesterday stranded as vehicular movements were disrupted along Ekhehuna Road that leads to the Gelegele River Port. This was due to a protest by residents and landlords from the various communities on the bad state of the road which re-construction has been on for over two years at very slow pace.

The communities complained that the few metres that have been done were already failing, alleging that the work was substandard.

The construction of 8.7 kilometres Ekhehuan Road commenced in May 2019 from the Oba Market axis of the Ring Road and is meant to pass through the Army Barrack and terminate at the Gelegele River Port.

The protesting communities are from Upper-Ekhehuan, Uvgbugyoko, Oghede, Agenigie, Ekhehuan Barracks, Udo, Evbuotubu, Ugbine communities living along the road.

Speaking with journalists, a landlord in the area who identified himself as Uche Nwabuzo,r said: “We are protesting because of the bad road. They said the road was awarded to a construction company but I don’t really know because all these time, they will come and dig the road and selling the sand.

“The old asphalt on the road has been excavated and right now, no road for us to pass again. In the evenings once it is 6:00 p.m. from Ring Road to Uvgbugyokho is N1000 while some of us that have cars will go to the mechanic’s workshop every day.

“We went to the site of the construction company, they told us the government has not reimbursed them, that is why the work is like that. We don’t know who is saying the truth so we decided to come out into the road to draw the attention of the governor so that the world will hear our cry as common men and maybe that will make them come to do the work because this was not what the governor promised us.

“When the governor came to campaign in Upper Ekheuan in 2016, he said immediately he resumes office, this road will be fixed but this work is up to four years now and it is even worse now so the suffering is too much. If nothing is done, we are coming back again to block the road. I am a landlord in the area.”

Another protester, who identified himself simply as Osayi but refused to give his surname, said: “I am a civil servant but I stay in this area. I have stopped driving my car home because I visit the mechanic almost every other day. I park in a friend’s compound by Erediauwa and then take public transport to the place and then drive my car to the office. When I close I drop it in my friend’s place and take public transport home.

“What is even more embarrassing is that the few metres they have tarred, the asphalted areas are already giving way. Go and look at Agho Junction, Ozigbo Junction, before the UNIBEN Ekhehuan campus on both sides. If you are coming from Ring Road, there are already pot holes. We are disappointed in what is happening.”

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