By Stella Odika
In a bid to curb the flooding challenge at Ugbuwangue community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, the Director-General, Warri/Uvwie and Environs Special Area Development Agency, (WUEDA), Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay has assured the people that immediate steps would be taken to salvage the situation.
Macaulay, a former Secretary to the Delta State Government, (SSG), stated this when he led a team of engineers, contractors and consultants to Ugbuwangue community to ascertain the level of flooding and proffer a lasting solution to it.
“I have seen the situation, and it is very bad, and I sympathise with you, but we must appreciate the fact that prior to this development Government has taken steps to give leverage to the entire area of Warri and Uvwie but unfortunately we are having this development. We have gone around the whole area and we are coming out with two solutions.
“The immediate solution and the long term solution. Immediate solution because the rains are just starting so that the flooding we have here will not continue for the rest of the year; the long term solution is to salvage not just the road but this community that is already sinking down because that is the essence of the whole Government’s intervention to make sure that such things don’t happen in Warri,” said the WUEDA DG.
He disclosed that about this time last year similar flooding occurred on Enerhen Road and that the issue has been resolved, adding that when it rains now within 30minutes the flood water drains off.
According to him, the same measure will be used to address the flooding at Ugbuwangue, stressing that 80% of the flooding problem in Warri is caused by the inhabitants of the area, especially land speculators, those blocking the natural waterways including those blocking the channels government has created to evacuate floodwaters.
“We must be disciplined, we must not use one day’s earning to give out the life of a whole community for a lifetime, so the communities themselves should be their own watchdogs; they should stop selling lands that encroach on natural waterways and people should stop building on natural waterways,” he said.
The DG further affirmed: “By the end of tomorrow the report would come out and we would know the best way to take this water out, but we are trying to find a situation where we would minimize the cost of damage and compensation because if a man has built, his fence or building would not be destroyed without compensation.
“It will be done in such a way that minimises cost as this is not part of the budget; this is something that came in along the way, but the good thing is that Government is aware of the situation and we want a solution.”
