Motorists want govt assitance over gully erosion on Ogwashi-Uku/Asaba/Ughelli Expressway
As the Ogwashi-Uku portion of the Asaba/Ughelli Federal Road threatens to cave in, following the impact of active gully erosion, few inches from the front of the main gate of Mobile Police Base, motorists plying the road have expressed fear over the possible collapse of the affected part of the road.
The failure of the affected portion of the road, which has spread wider and deeper onto the road, is now a great threat to the road users and their property.
The rapidity of the failure, from observation, stems from the abandonment of the road project, after disrupting the natural earth platform or structure by the contractor, and, in the process, exposed the area to water erosion, which has now developed to full-blown gully erosion.
The sharp, sloppy nature of the area equally contributes to the environmental problems, as it increases the velocity of the running water, as it descend from the sharp sloppy region to a soft soil texture area, at the terminal point of the slope.
Also influencing the expansion of the gully is the presence of heavy vehicular movement on the busy road. The vibration of the heavily loaded trucks plying the road accelerates the expansion of the existing faults, resulting in the expansion, a development which has deepened the fears of the road users.
It will be recalled that the Delta State government, over the years, through its interventionist policy, divided the project worker to three construction companies.
The affected section of the project was awarded to a local contractor, from Delta North Senatorial District, who has not been able to deliver the project, the gully erosion inflicted section of which today exposes the lives and property of many Deltans and the business sector of economy to danger.
Some motorists, John Osakwe and Kelvin Okoh who spoke to our reporter begged the state government to urgently find a lasting solution to the menace, disclosing that the bad spot is at present a death trap.
Their words: “we are appealing to the state government to come to our aid, the bad spot is now a death trap, government must do something now to save lives”.
But in a swift reaction, the State Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye explained that the State Government had sought approval to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Works that will ensure speedy repairs of the bad spot.
He said: “we are working in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure the bad spot is fixed”.
