FERMA begins rehabilitation of failed roads in Rivers

The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency has expressed its dedication to the systematic recovery of failed sections of federal roads in Rivers State.

The engineer in charge of FERMA’s Rivers State Field Office, Engr. Adoga Asikhia stated during the inspection of the ongoing road maintenance project of the new airport link road in Obio/Akpor and Ikwerre local government areas of the state on Tuesday.

Asikhia said, “Our major focus is the systematic recovery of the roads by patching the potholes and reinstating failed sections. Later on, we’ll embark on pavement strengthening of the roads, vegetation control and desilting of carriageways and shoulders.”

He added the agency aims to sustain the project which started last year to ensure that the road is always in good condition while cautioning motorists to shun bad driving habits and adhere to safety rules to avoid accidents.

He added, “This is definitely a continuous process. We started this thing last year. So the agency is truly working to ensure that the road, this particular road, at all times is in good riding condition for motorists.

“We want to advise motorists that the speed limit which the road safety has encouraged everybody to use, should be maintained, because this is not a major highway, that the speed should be cut down. Just this morning, an accident and a car overturned because of high speed and we have lots of bends around here.

“So we’re hoping that the motorists will exercise caution in seeing that whenever they are using the road, they ensure that their speed limit goes according to what is prescribed on the roads.”

On funding, he acknowledged that while funding remains a general problem in the county, the agency is doing well as the management ensures that funds are made available to the field office to carry out the maintenance.

Asikhia, however, decried the drainage on the road which he described as inadequate and one of the causes of road failures and major challenge affecting the project.

He added, “The poor drainage condition of the road has affected the road. The way the road is designed, there was no provision for drainages, so water does not find easy access, so the water now ponds on the roads, thereby resulting in the failure of the roads.”

He called on the state government to pay attention to the drainage situation saying, “We pray that the state will look into going into drainage facilities, providing drainage infrastructures on this road, because it’s going to be an extensive work.

“I don’t really know why no drainage was provided in the first place. Not that there are no drainages, it’s just that it is not properly done to adequately cater to the flow of water on the road. There are drainages, but it’s inadequate to cater for the road.”

The FERMA project in the state covers Port Harcourt-Isiokpo-Elele-Omerelu-Imo State border road and the Airport link road.