RSG Desilts Ntawogba Creek, Canals

The Rivers State Government says it is embanking on the desilting of Ntawogba creek, canals and drainages in the state.
Performing the flag-off  exercise at the Julius Berger Company along the Eastern By-Pass axis of the Ntawogba creek, Wednesday, the State Commissioner for Works, Hon. Dumnamene Dekor said the exercise  was expected to be completed in two months.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works Mr James Enebeli, Dekor said government had earlier carried out environmental impact assessment to ensure that the natural disaster was nipped in the bud.
According to him, “before any project is embarked on there is what is called environmental impact assessment, which has been done. Government is given  to details and it is being captured and we also have professionals that packaged this.
The commissioner warned that only genuine claims would be compensated, stating that any structure found on the drain canals  is illegal and the same would be removed without any form of compensation. “Building on drainages is an encroachment”, he stressed.
He also refuted claims that land reclamation was the reason for the  perennial flooding that has affected  parts of the state, saying, “provisions are made for channels”.
He emphasised, “it is a fact that Port Harcourt gets flooded when rainsfall, that’s a natural occurrence, but today signals the end of this problem”.

Tonye Nria-Dappa