Ihunwo operates a tricycle between the popular HappyBite junction to Obiri Ikwere interchange. His biggest fear, he says, is that a heavy-duty truck might crush him and his passengers at a spoilt section of the SARS road one day.
According to him, the portion has become so dangerous that he and his colleagues pray fervently while approaching it. He attributes this to heavy-duty trucks that ply the road to bridge travelling time between Igwuruta and Airport road.
Among his concerns include loss of manhours spent by commuters trying to navigate the bad spots which lead to loss of money. Others are the damage that swamp-like water that gathers at the spot does to their tricycle.
Narrating further his frustrations, he says things get worst each time it rains as clogged gutters ensure the water that collects at the spot has no way of escaping.
Other business owners and landlords of residential buildings are worried and scared that the rapid breakdown of the road will make people to start avoiding the area. They’re scared-stiff that it was no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ if the broken spots on the road are not urgently attended to and also given a facelift.
The stretch of road known as SARS road, which got its name and influence due to the presence of the base of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad is an area of recent growth. Five minutes from the Port Harcourt International Airport, it’s one of the first places visitors to Port Harcourt see. People moved to the area because of the sense of safety that they felt, and also due to its easy access to Port Harcourt city through Eliozu or the Obiri Ikwerre Interchange.
The area also epitomizes the pattern of migration of people and businesses. It has seen rapid investments in residential buildings and hotels, industries, schools, bars, supermarkets, and related commerce. Thus the population has more than tripled in the last four years. Such an area, bubbling with activities, does not deserve the curse of broken roads, nor does it deserve the single lane that is currently choking it to death. Hence it will be uncharitable for the state government to allow such to continue.
But why is Governor Nyesom Wike ignoring calls to repair the damaged spot on the road that poses a great danger to human lives and businesses? Why is playing deaf to calls for the dualization of the road to give it the sophisticated facelift that it desperately deserves? Isn’t the responsibility of the government pre-empting a disaster instead of waiting for it happen? Isn’t the government supposed to create a conducive environment for businesses to thrive?
When you observe the pattern of migration in Port Harcourt, one will see that township is moving towards the hinterlands of Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre and Etche. These areas also fall within the Greater Port Harcourt that was mapped out by the Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s administration. Despite the fact that the Wike’s Administration has paid little to no attention to the Greater Port Harcourt, congestion in Port Harcourt old townships are forcing people to move to the Greater Port Harcourt and other suburbs.
But it is not yet late. Wike still has more than one year to the expiration of his tenure. He needs to give businesses at SARS Road a gift for the taxes that they have been paying and will continue to pay. He owes such duty to both God and man. He should also understand that now is the best time to give that area the facelift that it deserves and if he doesn’t do it, no one will do it for him.
Okenyi Kenechi writes from Port Harcourt
