The infrastructural revolution embarked upon by Governor Nyesom Wike in Rivers State has yet again been applauded by another notable Nigerian, this time the commendation came from Prof. Jerry Gana, a former minister of Information and National Orientation during the civilian administration of Olusegun Obasanjo.
Gana who performed the official flag-off of Flyover 12, Location Junction, Port Harcourt on Friday, 19 August, 2022 said Governor Wike is a perfomer who puts his words into action.
“This is the essence of democracy, the people elect a good leader, the leader goes on to implement good projects and policies for the people. Therefore there is a partnership between leadership and good governance, we are seeing this demonstration in action in Rivers State under Governor Wike. We are proud of you because you are a great performer who does what he says he will do.
“Your sustained emphasis on development projects has shown clearly that good governance is possible through good leadership in Nigeria. You have demonstrated the power of good leadership in delivering of development projects to the people of Rivers State. Please accept our congratulations for this kind of good leadership,” the professor said.
In his remarks, The Executive Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike said his administration is building flyovers to decongest the traffic situation in Port Harcourt.
“My dear brothers and sisters, today marks the 12th flyover we are constructing since 2019. We have completed and commissioned seven flyovers, by the Grace of God, in September we will commission the 8th and 9th flyovers, and by December, the 10th one will be commissioned.
“Anybody who has been using the route will know that the gridlock has been horrible. We decided to see how we can decongest the traffic situation that has affected economic activities negatively in this area.
“The people should be patient and endure the inconvenience. Please bear with us, this should be your own sacrifice to bring the needed development because no development comes with sacrifice.
“I urge Julius Berger to reduce the completion time from 10 months to 7 months at most since the money for the project is already there. I know they have the capacity to deliver the job even before the specified time,” the Governor added.
While giving the project description, the Honourable Commissioner for Works, Dr. Dax George-Kelly Alabo, FNIQS said the 12th flyover is going to be just 80m shorter than the 11th flyover that was flagged-off on Thursday, 18 August 2022.
“The 12th flyover will be 927.5m long, just 80m shorter than flyover 11 that was flagged-off yesterday. It is going to have 17.6m width because it will have 2 lanes. 1m width median and 1m walkways on both sides.
“This flyover is going to have 104 beams, each of these beams will be 22.5m long which equates the length of each pile. The beams will be sitting on 208 elastomeric bearings to accommodate vertical compression,” he stated.
