Ministry Begins Towing Of Scrap Vehicles In PH

Following the challenges posed by scrap vehicles on road sites, the Rivers State Ministry of Environment has began the towing of such vehicles at various motor parks in the state.

An eye witness told our correspondent that at the Boro Park (Under the Flyover), that heavy duty vehicles from the state ministry of Environment were seen evacuating vehicle scraps under the flyover.

A motor driver, Mr Cliford Amadi who spoke to our correspondent at the weekend in Port Harcourt, said the exercise was a welcomed development.

He said such vehicles were before now, used as hideout for motor park touts.

Amadi lamented the security challenges posed by such scrap vehicles some of which he said, have been abandoned by their owners several years.

An official of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) who declined to mention is name explained that the scrap vehicles had caused environmental nuisance.

He claimed that apart from the security challenges, the scraps were abandoned by their owners when there is no possibly dumping site in the state.

The reason for the evacuation of the scraps vehicles at this time was not immediately known, but it may not be unconnected with the Urban Renewal Policy of the state government and security such vehicles might cause to motor park users in the state.

However, observers argued that the state ministry of environment would have taken proactive approach long ago as some of the scrap vehicles have been abandoned and marked for renewal several years ago.

Effort to contact the state commissioner for Environment, Dr Nyema Weli was not successful, but one of his aides said the exercise would be extended to all parts of Port Harcourt and environs.

He said the towing van from the ministry began in exercise from Boro Park and the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, adding that the exercise was part of the urban renewal policy of the present administration in the state, to remove scraps and other obsolete equipment causing environmental nuisance on the roadsides and motor parks.