The governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, on Monday, March 16, 2020, promised to commence work on the first phase of the Yenagoa ring-road project connecting Igbogene to Onopa and an international shipping mall conceptualized by his predecessor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, assuring that they would be ready for commissioning when he celebrates his first 100 days in office.
Governor Diri, who was accompanied by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, and some top government functionaries during an unscheduled visit to the project sites, said the Yenagoa ring-road is intended to ease traffic congestion in the city when construction work would commence on a Tombia-Etegwe flyover project later this year.
The governor, in a statement by his Acting Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, said his administration was abreast of the developmental challenges of the state and would strive within available resources to tackle them.
According to him, the flyover project when completed would largely decongest the traffic on the road that links the State Capital to the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, and the popular East-West Road.
ALSO READ:Â US begins first human trial of coronavirus vaccine
He explained that the Igbogene-Onopa Road that would be completed in 100 days would serve as an alternative route to enable commuters to bypass when construction work commences on Tombia-Etegwe Flyover.
He said “What we have done is to ensure that this flyover is in our budget commencing from this year. But before we construct it, we don’t want our people to suffer. If we start the flyover immediately, there would be a total blockage in the movement of people in Yenagoa.
“So we want to expand the roundabout in a manner that if you are coming in from Mbiama and going towards Amassoma, you don’t have any business coming to the roundabout. You can move straight to the Amassoma axis.
“We came to inspect and to look at the possibility of expanding the currently existing lanes and then expand the flyover so that it will make movement easier for our people.”
The Governor assured that those whose structures would be affected of compensation and that his team had already gone through the designs for the project.
At the Yenagoa Shopping Mall, the Governor promised to expedite work on its completion within his first 100 days in office, saying that he would ensure that it meets international standard
Diri explained that upon completion of the shopping mall, the state government would out-source it to reputable international marketing firms to promote commercial activities in the state.
“Let me commend my predecessor for this idea of having a shopping mall of international standard in Bayelsa. As you can see this project is not yet completed and so we want to complete it as one of our projects within our 100 days in office.”
and then