Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Friday said the ongoing Kwale-Beneku Bridge project across the Ase River linking Ndokwa West and Ndokwa East Local Government Areas would be ready for use in February 2022.
The governor who disclosed this while speaking to newsmen shortly after inspecting the project said that the bridge was of great significance to the government and its people, especially as the area contributed immensely to oil and gas production in Nigeria.
He said that for the critical position of the area to the oil industry, it was the expectation of the state government that oil companies operating in the area should have constructed the bridge over the years.
He said that the government, however, took the gauntlet, to construct the bridge since the oil companies failed to do the needful.
According to him, “the Kwale-Beneku bridge is very significant because it is going to open up the whole of the other side of the bridge.
“Unfortunately, for many years the oil companies have been using this pontoon here and I don’t think it ought to be so.
Okowa said “I actually felt that the oil companies, particularly AGIP, should have before now constructed a bridge across this place but since they couldn’t do it, we cannot ignore our people across this place.
“A lot of oil facilities are on this other side and there is a need to open up access to the place from Ndokwa West to Ndokwa East Local Government Area because it’s quite important.
“I remember coming on a campaign using the pontoon to cross; on one of the occasions when we were trying to cross, some of our people fell into the river and we cannot continue to allow such to happen because the people across matter a lot to us.
“They are part of the state and more so, they are part of the oil and gas producing communities in Nigeria.”
He said that the project was on course and that the contractor had assured that it would be ready in eight months from now, pushing it to February 2022.
“I believe that a lot of work has been done but we will follow through with them to ensure that they deliver the work on target.
“I am glad that the water level at the peak of the rains has been taken care of with the height of the bridge during the construction,” Okowa stated.
