Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has promised that the multi-billion naira Port Harcourt Ring Road will be delivered on schedule.
Fubara spoke on Wednesday, March 20, when he visited the site of the project to assess the extent of work that had been done by the contractors.
The governor’s chief press secretary, Nelson Chukwudi, in a statement, said the governor rode the stretch of the road from the Obiri-Ikwerre-Airport Road axis, through the Jesuit Memorial School to Elikpokwuodu Community, then to Rumuosi and Ozuoba communities before terminating the inspection tour at UTC Junction.
The inspection tour traversed through three local government areas of the state, Ikwerre, Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt City.
Fubara explained that the contract for the Port Harcourt Ring Road was the first of such agreements that he signed on the assumption of office.
He said a lot of money had been expended on the project, with the driving objective of making sure that it was delivered to Rivers people.
He said: “I think that we are good, considering the understanding that we had with Julius Berger Nigeria PLC.
“We signed off that in 36 months, this project will be done and delivered, and with what we are seeing, we are meeting up that target.
“I think that we have a few issues; the price rate of things at that time we signed the contract and what subsists presently is no longer the same.
“But whatever it is, I have assured them that we are going to provide the necessary support to make sure that we deliver this project.
“You know this project is very important to us. It is one of the first things that I signed off on when I came in as the Governor of this State.
“It is a signature infrastructure project for me, whichever way anybody wants to look at it. We signed on for it. We are paying dearly for it, and it’s one of the objectives of this Administration to make sure that we deliver it to our people.”
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Dr. Lars Richter, who conducted the governor round the project site, said work had advanced after piling and laying of beams on the first flyover, which started on January 15, 2024, and accomplished two months after.
Richter explained that while they had intensified work on the second flyover with beams ready to be laid, significant strides had been achieved in laying out the road and the drains for accelerated construction.
He assured me that the project would be delivered on schedule, and within specifications.
