Ninety per cent of ongoing projects, including 41 road projects, 18 buildings, a multi-million naira world-class Diagnostic Centre and a multi-door Court House will be completed and commissioned as part of activities marking Governor Seriake Dickson’s one year anniversary, the Bayelsa State Government has said.
Conducting newsmen round some of the project sites within and outside the state capital, Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence Ewrudjakpor disclosed that the decision to open up the state is aimed at attracting local and foreign investors.
“Our dream is to make Bayelsa the Dubai of Africa. Governor Seriake Dickson has given us the task and it must be accomplished,” he said.
“When we took over, there was nothing to write home about in terms of infrastructure and that is why the governor was angry to develop the state. All the ongoing projects as well as the ones earmarked for construction would be completed within the tenure of the present administration.
He said the government embarked on the massive construction of projects because Bayelsa State is backwards and has nothing to report on, unlike its other southern counterparts.
“Therefore, the target of this administration is to restore the lost glory of the state and make the state measure up to the other states in the southern part and a befitting state capital,” Ewrudjakpor added. “It is also to ensure and prove that governance in Bayelsa State can have a face, contrary to the negative opinion of people that nothing can work in Bayelsa State.”
He told people of the state to put away fears of projects being abandoned, as the government is conscious of what it is doing and is angrily determined to develop the state.
Some of the road projects listed by Ewrudjakpor include the three senatorial roads, re-construction and dualisation of Ekoli Bridge, Tombia-Etegwe Road, expansion of Eradiri Road, construction of Bayelsa Airport Road and construction of Outer Ring Road.
Also enumerated are building projects, such as the world-class Diagnostic Centre located within the premises of the Melford Okilo Memorial hospital, four secretariat annexes, Multidoor Court House for the state Judiciary, Nigeria Prison’s Service, and Governor and Deputy Governor’s Lodges in Yenagoa, Sagbama and Nembe.
