Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has said that with the successes recorded with the storm drainage projects being executed by his administration, more projects will be executed in the state.

Governor Okowa gave the assurance on Tuesday during an inspection visit to storm drainage sites in Asaba and its environs.

The Governor, who was accompanied by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Chiedu Ebie; Chief of Staff, Government House, Olorogun David Edevbie; and the Senior Political Adviser, Rt. Hon. Funkekeme Solomon, inspected the discharge points of the storm drainage projects at the Anwai River, Government House, Asaba and Corner Stone area of Okpanam. The level of job done at the project sites were explained by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Engr. Fred Edafioghor.

According Okowa, “We have to manage our finances; we have to be wise in our spending because these projects cannot be abandoned and we also want to be sure that in our planning process that we are not taking more than we can chew, so that we do not get choked; in the first four years we have been able to keep up with payments and projections; obviously, there are lots of benefits derivable from the construction of these drainage projects and we will do more.

“From what we saw during the inspection, we are working with specifications; this current project (at Jesus Saves Road) is within its limit and we are being told that the houses around this project is affecting some of the work being done, but, work is going on and it will connect to the sewage by the Lion House while the other sewage drain will connect to the Agric road sewage; these projects are all part of the drainage plans for Asaba.

“We have three major drainages that are being executed but on the whole we have a lot more drainages to construct if we are to control the flow of flood water in Asaba; we still need about five more drainage projects to effectively tackle flood issues in Asaba to the level we want but, we took the three most critical ones which we have been inspecting today.

“I believe that the completion of these ongoing drainage projects will remarkably reduce the water overflow in Asaba, but there is still a lot more to be done.

“We will continue to do our best bearing in mind that we cannot attend to all the projects at once because, we are mindful of the fact that we need to pay our contractors and it is due to the fact that we want to ensure that our contractors are well paid that we decided to start with the three major drainages out of the eight that were planned for Asaba and as we conclude payment for the projects being carried out now, we will be able to look into the process of awarding new contracts.”

The Governor expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done at the projects sites saying: “We monitor the projects; we have consultants who are on ground as well as staff of the Ministry of Works to supervise the jobs; the quality of the jobs is outstanding and we are impressed.”

Okowa said that his administration was working for a state where issues of flooding will be frontally tackled, and called on Deltans to desist from dumping refuse on drainages but, rather, patronise private waste disposal operators to properly dispose their refuse.

“We all know the benefits of clean environment; if we have proper drainage channels to tackle flooding of our cities and towns, good network of roads, it is also, very important for our people to imbibe the habit of having clean environment; they should ensure proper disposal of wastes – no dumping of refuse in the drainages which can cause blockage, no dumping of refuse on the road, streets because, such does not only litter the environment, it can also, lead to health challenges,” Governor Okowa said.

•Photo by Jibunor Samuel shows, from right; Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa; Permanent Secretary Ministry of Works, Fred Dafiogor and Consultant John Onwualu, Inspecting the Discharge of DBS Storm water Drain in Asaba.

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