By Emma Arubi (Snr.) Correspondent, Warri
LAST Wednesday, Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, accompanied by the Secretary to the State Government, Comrade Ovuozorie Macauley, and other top government functionaries and service chiefs undertook an inspection visit to the once troubled Escravos axis of Warri South-West council area to assess the level of execution of some key government projects geared towards raising the physical infrastructure development and socio-economic standard of the oil-rich but neglected area and its impoverished people.
Among the key project sites visited were the $16 billion Gas City Project at Ogidigben and the University of Marine Technology, Kurutie, a private initiative of former warlord, High Chief Ekpemukpolo, a.k.a Tomplolo.
Tompolo had intended the massive infrastructure at Kurutie, his hometown, as a diving school but if the Federal University of Marine Technology is to take off at all, the need for a temporary and befitting accommodation with state-of the facilities would be required. And so Tompolo’s diving training institute became handy.
The site for both projects is massive as it is swampy and very challenging to build on. It requires a physical visit to appreciate the daunting task of embarking on such project of such magnitude.
According to Uduaghan, “the cost of putting these few structures on ground as it is presently at Kurutie is enough to construct three modern cities upland because you have to first clear the land, do excavation and then reclamation of the vast land and with sharp sand and carry out soil test and others before the process of road construction and other infrastructure facilities can be put on ground”.
But the school site is just one of the numerous transformation that has taken place in the once God forsaken communities in Gbaramatu kingdom. The communities are now well planned and mapped out with lanes, streets and closes found in modern cities, just as the private residential buildings scattered everywhere are architectural designs found only in places like Abuja, Warri urban, Lagos, Jos, Kaduna, Minna and Port Harcourt.
One source, however, secretly revealed that the magnificent edifices belong to the warlord himself with uninterrupted electricity and water supply round the clock. Truly, with the kind of serene atmosphere and the freshness of the Atlantic wind, with no threat to life or property, Kurutie could be said to be an El Dorado.
Another community visited by the governor, though no project was inspected due to lack of time, was Okerenkoko. Like Kurutie, massive infrastructure development projects are ongoing as heavy duty construction trucks were seen working. It is as modern as any modern city can be with a newly constructed massive church building bearing flags of different counties dancing and waving welcome to visitors. You can barely find any ramshackle building or house in Okerenkoko town whose main river accommodates an NNPC floating mega station that we learnt has never pumped even one litre of product to anybody since it was taken there for, perhaps, its aesthetic or decorative purposes.
Uduaghan, speaking in a lighter mood, recalled how he has worshipped at a very stranded looking church building at Okerenkoko sometime ago and commended the leadership of the community for erecting a befitting church edifice for the worship of God Almighty, promising to partner with them for the growth and development of the community.
After his speech, Chief Government Ekpomukpolo, who chaired the high table with the governor was requested to speak and as usual, he declined and passed the microphone to Chief Alfred Bubor, the Boluwei of Gbaramatu kingdom. Chief Bubor then reminded the governor of his promise to build a home at Okerenkoko if given a land and requested him to come for the land whenever he was ready. Bubor said, like Oliver twist, they are still requesting for further empowerment and socio infrastructure in the community.
Before the Warri crisis that metamorphosed into what is now known as the Niger Delta crisis, the Ijaw villages were an eye sore to every right thinking Nigeria in spite of the fact that they are Nigeria’s major oil producing communities.
The truth of the matter, however, is that while these Ijaw villages have become a beautiful sight to behold, their Itsekiri surrounding villages and towns ravaged by Ijaw militants in the seven-year pogrom remain desolate, deserted, abandoned and forgotten.
But the real purpose of the riverine visit to Ugborodo was to see what is on ground at the $16 billion Gas City Project site where Julius Berger has commence some semblance of work. At the company’s site at Madangho, Chief Ayirimi Emami led the governor on the inspection visit just as Tompolo led him at Okerenkoko and Kuruties communities.
Uduaghan had to come to inspect what is on ground as Mr. President is set to come for the ground breaking ceremony in a few weeks time.
“The ground breaking will take place in the next few weeks. Mr. President will come here to do the ground breaking. I know it is going to be very soon. They will soon give us a date. We are quite ready. You can see that the site is ready for the ground breaking,” he said.
Uduaghan said that the Gas City is a public-private partnership project involving the Federal Government, some private investors and the Delta State Government which is the host state. According to him, the gas city, being the first in the country, would host three major projects, a gas processing plant, a fertiliser plant and a petrochemical plant, adding, “There are other projects that will spring up thereafter. It is called a gas city because apart from those three projects, there is going to be a big housing estate. There is going to be a deep-sea port that NPA is going to construct. The gas processing plant will act as a feedstock to the petrochemical and the fertiliser plant. The three projects will cost over $16 billion. It is a private-public partnership between the Federal Government through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, working with private investors and of course the Delta State Government also being part of the project as the host state of the project.”
Uduaghan disclosed that the first part of the project involved development of infrastructure, “To develop the infrastructure, you will first of all prepare the land. Preparation of the land means the bush clearing which has started; again there will be excavation and sand filling.”
He revealed that the project when completed will turn Delta State into the industrial base of Nigeria, noting that it has multiplier economic benefits ranging from employment generation to providing gas for the nation’s power plants, thereby improving power supply in the country.
Earlier, Mr. Tomas Grousser, project director of Julius Berger, the contractor handling the project had informed the governor that the company mobilised to site in January and has completed 60 per cent of bus clearing which will be completed in August.
On rumours going the round of a possible relocation of the project, he stated thus; “Let me assure everybody that this project is not leaving this site. It has come to stay. Mr. President will come and do the ground breaking and the other processes will continue” adding that the intra-leadership tussle at Ugborodo, the host community, has been resolved and that he would soon inaugurate the committee that would liaise between the Federal Government and the community on the project. Uduaghan appealed to the host community to continue to maintain the peace in the area, noting, “My message always to the community is that what is coming here is unimaginable. What they are even fighting for is just like fighting for crumbs of a bigger pie that is coming. They should look more into the future. What is coming here once it succeeds generations unborn will benefit so much from it.”
When the groundbreaking ceremony finally comes and how the community relates with it for the general good remains to be seen.
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