Work Starts On Reconstruction Of Eleme – Onne Axis Of East-West Road

The Federal Government has commenced work on the reconstruction of the 18-km Eleme Junction – Trailer Park section of the East-West Road in Rivers State, barely two weeks after the minister of Works, Dave Umahi, visited the site.
Umahi had promised that work on the project would soon commence but many stakeholders had doubted him because of past promises by the Federal Government to reconstruct the road failed.
The minister had said at the inspection of a mobilization site near Eleme Junction, when he visited the state, that the sum of N33billion has been released for the project.
Last week however, motorists and residents woke up to meet the contractors, Remolds Construction Company Limited (RCC) clearing a site at the Tailer Park area. Eventually, piling equipment were mobilised to the site, where it is said that a flyover will be constructed to connect the spur to the Onne Ports complex.
Both sides of the road were cleared and excavated while bulldozers and excavators continued to push out the top layers of the soil when National Point visited the site.
The work being carried out was however still localised around the Trailer Park end of the road. Some workers on site told National Point that what was going on at Trailer Park was part of the total reconstruction of the 18-km Eleme axis of the East-West Road.
From National Point investigations, a very long time spanning over 18 years, several promises made by the Federal Government to reconstruct that axis of the road had failed despite the lamentations of the users of that section of the road.
They had cried out that the failed portion had been causing a lot of accidents, deaths and business failures.
Articulated vehicles conveying goods from Onne Ports and other heavy duty vehicles collapse every day on the road, causing holdups and untold hardships to people around the area and travellers using the route to get to Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
Apart from the cries from road users, the organised private sector and many other interest groups that depend on the road for their businesses have made representation many times to the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Works to do something about the road.
Many people had expected that the state government would take the initiative to reconstruct the road and seek imbursement from the Federal Government but unconfirmed claims by the immediate past government in the state, said attempts by the state government to take over the project was rejected by the Federal Government.
The project itself has suffered inconsistencies in policies of the federal government. Shortly after the Obasanjo administration awarded contracts for the reconstruction of the East-West Road from Warri in Delta State to Oron in Akwa Ibom State, the road was taken away from the Federal Ministry of Works and handed over to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs after it was created in 2007.
The initial contractors for the Elem section of the road, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, withdrew from the contract after its personnel were randomly kidnapped for ransom by militants in the Niger Delta region. That was when RCC was engaged to handle the section of the road Julius Berger was initially billed to handle.
But since RCC took over the contract for that section of the road. The contract was never perfected. Besides, the new ministry overseeing the project, MNDA was not receiving adequate funding to enter into contracts requiring huge funding. RCC was then reduced to carrying out remedial works to merely keep the road motorable during the wet season.
Things got so bad on the road two years ago forcing youths from Eleme Local Government Area to block the road for one week to press for the reconstruction of the road. They only withdrew after the then minister of Niger Delta Affairs then, Godswill Akpabio, promised that work would commence immediately after payment of damages to owners of developed property on the project’s right of way.
After the sum of N2.5billion was released to pay landlords of property on the right of way and palliative work was done to very bad portions of the road, equipment mobilised for the project were withdrawn from site and the road went from bad to worse.
Following further agitations, the Federal Government transferred the East-West Road from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs back to the Federal Ministry of Works, last year, which was said to have better funding. The protocols involved in the transfer of the road further delayed work on the road, officials of the ministry in Port Harcourt then told National Point.
While transfer of files were still going on between the two federal ministries, the Eleme section of the East-West Road was further transferred to a department in the Presidency that enjoys priority funding. Not long after, former President Muhammadu Buhari directed that the project be funded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which had just been incorporated as a profit making company. But nothing still came from that development until a new government under President Bola Tinubu was inaugurated in May 2023.
A few months later, Senator Dave Umahi was inaugurated as minister of Works. A Rivers State delegation led by Governor Sim Fubara visited Abuja and complained about the state of the road to President Bola Tinubu, who promised to do something about it. Senator Umahi visited the state afterwards and said it was unacceptable that the road had been neglected to that level. He promised immediate action and to make the road concrete-based.
Following the mobilisation of men and equipment on site, the chairman of Eleme Local Government,Chief Obarilomate Ollor, commended the minister of Works for matching words with action. He promised to provide all necessary support to ensure that the project was well executed.
To show his commitment to the realisation of the project, Chief Ollor personally led the demolition of structures that were on the right of way of the project at Trailer Park Junction, where a flyover is expected to be built.