Collapsed highway cut off Rivers communities

The Aba/Port Harcourt   dual carriage road has become a nightmare to thousands of Rivers State residents and indeed visitors to Port Harcourt from   other states like Abia and Imo that ply the route on a daily basis. The Aba/Port Harcourt highway, constructed in late 70’s by Dumez Construction Company, is the only link road that […]

The Aba/Port Harcourt   dual carriage road has become a nightmare to thousands of Rivers State residents and indeed visitors to Port Harcourt from   other states like Abia and Imo that ply the route on a daily basis.
The Aba/Port Harcourt highway, constructed in late 70’s by Dumez Construction Company, is the only link road that connects Rivers and Abia States through the Imo River bridge.  Hundreds of motorist  that ply the road from Port Harcourt to Aba on a daily basis to transact one business or other are counting their losses   just as they  look up to federal government’s urgent intervention. From Eleme junction to Imo bridge , the long stretch road has collapsed leaving hundreds of motorist that ply the road to the mercy of  deep potholes,  stressful  and heart- ranching  traffic grid luck.
 The worst hits are the residents of Oyigbo local government council in Rivers State where more than sixty thousands inhabitants of the area   have been cut off by the road to the rest of the state.  Because of the dilapidated state of the road a journey from Port Harcourt to Oyigbo which ordinarily wouldn’t have taken more than twenty minutes last up to four hours. The nature of the terrain has also affected cost of transportation.  A journey from Aba to Port Harcourt which cost between N150 to N200 before now cost N400.
But a temporary relief came the way of the road users three weeks ago when Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike awarded contract for the rehabilitation of the road.  The governor, who was shocked on the state of the road when he visited Oyigbo, said he would embark on the rehabilitation of the road to ease traffic on the congested road. He said the road is very important to the economic well being of the people of the state. Work have already commenced at the Imo Rivers section of the road where the road rehabilitation is still ongoing just as motorist are still locked up in the stressful traffic grid lock.