The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has renewed its appeal to federal and state governments to fix bad roads leading to depots and tank farms as the union may call on members to withdraw their services.
In an interview with our correspondent, Thursday, in his office, PTD Chairman, Port Harcourt Refinery Unit, Comrade Lucky Etuokwu, expressed disappointment that in spite of the cry by the union for urgent attention, the government was yet to take the issue seriously, while their members continue to suffer .
“I had expected that the bad  spot at C4I in Akpajo should have been attended to, to reduce the impact. The one at Petrochemical junction and Eleme junction, they only did partial work on one side only,” he said, stressing that the efforts were yet to reduce the negative impact on trucks.
Etuokwu while narrating, said the situation of the area at Figrol which is after Intel was still terrible as, according to him, they were managing one lane before as the other had become impassable, but that even the only lane they use had become very terrible for trucks to ply.
“The truth of the matter is that rainy season is almost with us, I had expected that government would have started serious work before the rain starts heavily, but we are yet to see any serious work”, he said.
He explained that during serious rains water covers the road such that truck drivers could not see how to dodge the potholes  and in the process, might slid off the road, stressing that when  the truck falls, apart from the petroleum content valued in millions of naira, the attendant fire that goes with it could lead to loss of lives and property.
He appealed that even if government could not give permanent solution to the situation, it should provide temporary measures like filling up the holes with stones to enable the trucks pass.
The union leader suggested that drainage should be constructed from Eleme junction  to Imo River as to channel water off the road and elongate the road’s life span.
Noting that the union cannot continue to suffer huge damages on their members’ trucks loss of man hours, Etuokwu restated that the union would in no distant time call members to withdraw services if no serious steps were taken to provide solution to the problem.

Chris Oluoh