The Rivers State Commissioner for Works, George-Kelly D. Alabo, says the 50 kilometers Port Harcourt ring road has six sections that will run currently and will be completed in three years.
He said the Port Harcourt Ring Road will have six flyovers, one river-crossing bridge, and 19 rotary intersections and roundabouts.
“The road is a total of 50.15km dual carriageway, meaning that we would be taking about 100 kilometres if it was a single carriageway.
“The project is going to have six flyovers and one river-crossing bridge. The flyovers will have a total length of 4.8 kilometres. The river-crossing bridge will be 350 metres long. The project is subdivided into two loops; we have the southern loop and the northern loop.
“The project’s starting point will be the southern loop, which is the UTC Junction, Port Harcourt. We will go into what looks like a valley there towards Kidney Island and take a curve to get to Rumuji Street. We go left to Uruala Street, then we move on to Iloabuchi Street, meaning that all of these roads will be dual carriageway.
“At the end of Iloabuchi Street, we will go left towards Eagle Island. Behind the Agip Oil Company, we are going to put a bridge to cross the river there to Mgbodohia, then we will go straight to Aka Road, and from there, we will go right to hit the Olumeni-Epirikom Road.
“On that road where you have St. John’s Church, we will have a flyover there. And then we go left towards Ogbogoro and move on to Ogbogoro-Ozuoba Road. At the Ozuoba Junction on NTA-Choba Road, we will put another flyover there that would be slightly snake in nature because it will move all the way into Rumuosi.
“We will move from Rumuosi to East-West Road, then we put another flyover across East-West Road to Rumuekini. That is the end of the southern loop.
“The northern loop begins from Rumuekini to Aluu, from there, we will hit right to get to the Airport Road, we then go right and get to Elikporkpordu until we get to Elikporkpordu by Ikwerre Road, we will put another flyover there to get to Rukporkwu.
“We move into the Rukporkwu-Eneka Road, which will now be dualiazed to get to Eneka Roundabout, we will put another flyover there. Then we will hit the Eneka-Igbo Etche Road, enter into the Igbo-Etche community proper, go straight through the vegetation, and hit Aba Road by Iriebe, where we used to have a toll gate. At that point, we will have a roundabout and a flyover.
“From Iriebe, we will move in through the vegetation to get to Agbonchia in Eleme LGA. Then we will go right to get to Alesa-Refinery Road, then we will have our final flyover and roundabout there,” the Commissioner added.
In his speech, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara maintained that beyond traffic decongestion and accessibility, the Port Harcourt Ring Road seeks to unite the people of Rivers State further.
The Governor said the flag-off ceremony began a journey some people thought his administration could not kick-start.
“This road is not just about connecting Eleme to Etche; it is not just about connecting Etche to Ikwerre; the project is about connecting our people. It is about uniting Rivers people.
“The new Rivers vision is about bringing Rivers people together. It is about making all the ethnic groups in the State to unite for a common goal.
“Beyond our individual differences and diversity, I want us to look at this project as something that connects us together,” the Governor stated.
Governor Fubara said the project is going to decongest Port Harcourt City and Obio Akpor because other cities will develop in the State.
He pledged that while his administration is investing in infrastructural development, reasonable attention will also be given to education, health, and youth empowerment.
“This project will develop new cities in Rivers State because there will be accessibility to other towns around Port Harcourt. More investors will come too.
“Let me assure the good people of Rivers State that it is not only the roads we will attend to; we will invest in health and educational sectors. We will also look at youth empowerment because it is essential,” he said.
On his part, the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the special guest of honour, stated that his administration approved the construction of the Port Harcourt Ring Road.
The former Governor commended Governor Fubara for starting the project on a solid and positive note.
“Before I left office, the last state executive council meeting that we held, which the Governor and his deputy attended, we approved that the next administration should construct the Port Harcourt Ring Road.
“We attended meetings in Germany with the Commissioner for Works, negotiating with Julius Berger. We thank God Almighty that this project is starting today.
Governor Fubara has shown that he has the will and capacity to carry out project of this magnitude,” he said.
