The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has commended his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa for embarking on the project which he said, is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
Abubakar gave the commendation during the inauguration of the 480 metres flyover at the popular Koka junction on the Asaba-Benin highway.
He said: “If you look into the books you will see that this Benin-Asaba highway is a federal road but the state government has taken over the construction of this project because it is closer to the people of Delta State.
“We borrowed our presidential system from the United States and in the United States the only federal roads you find are interstate roads that connect one state to another. Other internal roads, bridges and highways are the responsibility of state governments
“It is understandable because it is the military that gave birth to our own presidential system of government and you know how they accumulate too much power to themselves to the detriment of the federating units.
“I believe that by the time we undertake a fundamental amendment to our constitution to restore the autonomy to the states and local government areas as far as resources are concerned, we would have done away with this huge bottleneck that has impeded our growth infrastructure and otherwise,” Abubakar said.
He commended Okowa and the government of Delta State for taking the initiative of restructuring even before it was constitutionally allowed, saying “congratulations Governor Okowa for this huge development that you have undertaken to the benefit of the people of Delta State and Nigerians in general who ply this road on a daily basis.”
In his remarks, Okowa said that the project was conceived and delivered by his administration to provide solution to the gridlock on the Benin-Asaba highway and expressed optimism that on completion of the dualisation of the Ughelli-Asaba road, the traffic on the Koka corridor would have been completely eliminated.
It will be recalled that it took the Chinese firm 17 months before the completion of the multibillion naira flyover and interchange project.
The completion of the project has finally arrested the traffic jam experienced by motorists and pedestrians for many years.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that motorists from Warri, Ughelli, Ndokwa, Isoko, ijaw communities from Delta and others from Bayelsa State, who travelled through the Ughelli-Ogwashi Uku-Asaba dual carriageway to Asaba had cause to run into the traffic jam at Koka junction where the road joins the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha highway.
Nigerian Tribune further learnt that while the construction of the project lasted, it remained hectic for traders, especially those going to Onitsha, workers, businessmen, students, among others coming from Ibusa road (Ughelli-Asaba road direction) and commuters from Asaba to the opposite direction.
As a result, the state government, in its bid to bring sanity to the axis, decided to beautify the area in 2020 by creating gardens, built a relaxation spot and mapped out spaces for vehicles.
Unfortunately, hoodlums burnt down all the facilities during the EndSARS crisis.
The project, according to the Nigerian Tribune sources is the third in the state and second in Asaba after completion, as it stands out as one of the star projects executed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led administration in the state. The first and second flyovers were executed by former Gov Emmanuel Uduaghan at Effurun in Uvwie, near Warri and InterBau in Asaba.
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