In a bid to curb the incessant flooding experienced in some parts of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Government has awarded contracts for the construction of four drain sites in the city.
A senior official in the state Ministry of Works who informed The Tide of the development said the drain sits are some of the most problematic in the city.
He disclosed that the sites include Central Bank at Azikwe Road, Stadium Road, Woji Road in new Government Reserved Area and another one at St John’s Bus stop at Aba Road.
The source who preffered anonymity said the contracts were awarded after due process and approval by the state executive council, as more of such contracts would be awarded immediately they go through the due process.
Prominent among the drain sites is the one running through the length of the Stadium Road to Elekahia area and would cost the state about N3,2billion.
The official noted that the stadium road drain project would be handed by one Oki Construction Company and one at CBN would be handed by Gitto Construction Company.
Reynolds Construction Company is billed to handle that of St John’s site, the source added, saying that by next month all flooding sites would be tackled.
Explaining why works on some projects were halted, the senior official stated that since the rains have come heavily, the ministry wrote personally to some of the contractors to cease work because , we discovered that some of them were executing shabby jobs during the rain.
The source explained that there was no way the contractors could execute good and quality jobs under the rain since most of them don’t have the equipment to do so.
On the other hand, he explained that only multinational construction companies were allowed to work but with strong supervision from the ministry officials, especially on road that are vital to traffic.
With the embargo on road construction activities, he added that, “ the contractors are only allowed to do the drainage aspect of their jobs”.