Heavy Rains Halt Construction Activities

As the city of Port Harcourt and its environs experience heavy rainfall, works at many construction sites have slowed down.

The Tide

investigation reveals that the abandonment of some of  construction sites was occasioned by floods, and bad roads that had made passage of vehicles difficult.

Visit to some road construction project and housing sites shows that the projects which were progressing steadily before the rains are no longer progressing due to heavy rainfall.

It was observed that heavy rainfall has caused the ground to be very soft, making it difficult for trucks to convey building materials to sites.

Within the Rumuosi-Rumuekini area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, many of the access roads to the projects sites are now filled with stagnant water and soft soil that have prevented trucks from conveying materials.

On the visit to these sites, one of the trucks conveying material to the area was trapped in the mud and could not reach its destination, while several other vehicles and trucks were at various areas.

One of the builders, Mr Christian Udoh, told The Tide that the rainy season is not favourable to development in terms of errection of structure and access to the project site.

He said rather than allowing rainfall to destroy or spoil their work, that many developers prefer to suspend the work until there is dry weather, adding that rain generally is not favourable to building and construction activities.

Meanwhile, a building contractor based in Port Harcourt Michael Woke have lamented over the slow pace of business since the rainy season sets in noting that it has affected his income.

He said that the suspension of development activities due to continuous rainfall has also affected their jobs as builders, which has also affected income.