Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, has faulted the criticism of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project by a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke.
Duke had mentioned in an interview on Arise Television that the project was an impossibility as a result of swampy terrain.
The 750km freeway project being constructed by the Federal Government traverses 9 coastal states, together with Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
Duke had mentioned, “The Lagos-Calabar Road is unbuildable. You cannot even go through Bayelsa. Bayelsa is swampy. Even Yenagoa, the capital, is swampy. You will probably have to build about 100 or 200 bridges to go through those swamps.”
Responding to Duke’s criticism, the Bayelsa governor, in a press release by his spokesman, Daniel Alabrah, expressed disappointment {that a} former governor of a South-South state would criticise the project as a result of politics and never primarily based on reality or actuality.
Diri mentioned Duke’s reference to Bayelsa and its tough, swampy terrain was out of sync with the truth about improvement within the state.
He mentioned if Duke was in tune with happenings in Bayelsa, the place his administration had constructed roads and bridges throughout swamps and the mangroves, he would have identified that the coastal road project was attainable.
“To say the least, I really feel upset that former Governor Duke, who’s from our area, made such a remark. Clearly, he’s not abreast of present developments in road building and infrastructure improvement in our state.
“I need to consider that his criticism had political colourations and he didn’t contemplate the importance of such a project to our area.
“In Bayelsa, now we have efficiently constructed twin carriage roads and bridges in related terrain, and our state is healthier for it.
“So, he is wrong. The Lagos-Calabar coastal road is buildable and possible.”
Diri additional acknowledged that the project was vital to unlocking improvement within the states and riverine communities alongside its pathway.
According to him, the coastal freeway can be very pricey to the Ijaw ethnic nationality because it is likely one of the tasks that the Ijaw National Congress (INC), even from its inception within the Nineties, clamoured for.
He mentioned it was solely the administration of President Bola Tinubu that finally undertook the project after a few years of presenting the request to earlier governments on the centre.
Diri defined that this was certainly one of his causes for becoming a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) because the curiosity of his folks was paramount.
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