Crusaderhotnews
By PASTOR OSAGIE IZE-IYAMU
I remember giving an interview to a local newspaper, The Catalyst some years ago which was published in their October 24th 2004 edition. In the interview, where I was asked a variety of questions, I recall speaking on the issue of roads that “the real problem was not the roads but lack of drainage. I explained that most of the roads built over the years, had no drainage. To buttress my point, I mentioned Okhoro road which was in a terrible state but which Chief Lucky Igbinedion as Governor tarred in his first term as far as Medical Stores road, but because there was no drainage it did not last. Extracts of that interview are “water must find its level and as long as there is no concrete plan to take the water off the street, no matter how much you build, the roads will always go bad.’’ Yes there are a lot of bad roads; maybe the focus should be what do we do to ensure that when we repair these roads, they survive the rainy season. From my own point of view, what has made the situation worse is that in the past, the moat served as a natural drainage point but now, access to the moat has been blocked. “A lot of building located on or beside the moat are illegal structures and for overriding public purpose should be relocated, so the water can flow into the moat. We need to have the political will to do that. Government should acquire some of these plots and use them as water retention points, then we must construct more drains. I believe the time will come when we have to encourage the landlords, the local governments, the State and the Federal government to have interconnecting drains because the flood is getting out of hand”
I have quoted copiously from this interview conducted eleven years ago when I was Secretary to Edo State government to debunk insinuations that I offered no constructive advice at that time or that we were insensitive to the plight or problems of our people. I was therefore very delighted when Governor Adams Oshiomhole announced the commencement of the Benin Storm Water Project, Programmed to de-flood the whole of Siluko area, Ekenwan, Ogida, Ogbe, Airport, Uwasota and greater part of Ugbowo all to Ogba River. The advisability of doing this project was predicated on a study conducted by a South African Firm called Aurecon who were paid a staggering sum of N450Million for just the report. The project execution was given to Hitech, a construction company based in Lagos for a whopping cost of N30Billion which was sourced from the Capital market. A project of this magnitude ought to have been processed in a very transparent manner with regards to award and costing procedure but as it has become customary with the present government, a less transparent method was adopted devoid of competitive bidding. Undermining these shortcomings, Edo people waited with hope and expectation for the successful completion of this projects which would have been a watershed achievement.
One year to the end of the administration, we are informed that the project completion will take 30 years. The question agitating the mind of Edo people is when did the government realise that this project will take 30 years to complete? The question is necessary because at no time in the project conception or award were Edo people told this completion period. Rather the impression created was that with the money sourced from the Capital Market and the award and deployment of the contractors to site, the project would be completed in record time. With the contract sum almost exhausted we are constrained to ask, who will pay the contractors for the next 30 years and how much remains unpaid? Professional assessment of what Hitech has done revealed that the contract is 30% completed. Who will pay the balance 70% of the contract that is yet completed?
What has prompted this post is not even the shocking new date of completion or the abysmal 30% work executed but the ominous signs, experts have observed with regards to the work done, which not only expose a shoddy execution of a very sensitive and technical project but should God forbid, trigger a major disaster comparable to the Ogunpa flood and erosion disaster of the 1980’s and 1990’s in Ibadan,Oyo State. It has been observed that when it rains, Ogba River now experience unprecedented flooding and the bridge is sometimes, submerged while some houses by the river basin or bank of the river have been completely destroyed. If the Benin Storm Water Project at 30% completion is already causing such great damage, what will happen when the project is 100% completed if something drastic is not done and very urgently too.
As is well known in project management, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Impact and Socio Economic Assignment (EISEA) are usually done before major engineering projects are done to avoid negative outcome or consequences. The need for remediation or preventive or mitigative measures are assessed before plans are made for resettlement and income amelioration, as the case may be. In the Benin Water Storm Project, it is doubtful if due studies were done given the signs now manifesting. Had proper planning encompassing EIA, EISEA, and a baseline survey been done, safety valves would have been put in the project execution from the onset. Ogba River suffers massive siltation due to the huge volume of flood and erosion that empty into it as a result of the high and aggressive urbanization. The vegetational cover of the river bank has since been de-wooded and deforested by farmers and loggers, exposing the banks to erosion of its own. Several persons channel their effluent to the river without control or check from government thereby destroying the aquatic diversity of the river.
What ought to have been done based on the outcome of the impact studies are many (1) the river should have been massively desilted and dredged to allow it to accommodate more water. The volume of water from the various channelization programmes, called water storm for technical esoterism, would have been calculated and estimated and the river dredged accordingly. This was not done and it is not in the contract agreement with Hitech. (2) The river basin should have been widened and a lot of the present buildings or inhabitants resettled elsewhere. This has not been done and it is not in the contract agreement. The looming consequence is that many Ogba river bank inhabitants may be swept away one day like the Ogunpa disaster. (3) The areas de-wooded and deforested should have been replanted with appropriate vegetation and grasses to reduce erosion. There are known species for checking erosion. The Colorado valley in USA used special Bahamas and Vetiva grasses to reduce erosion. (4) The fishermen, Farmers, horticulturist, Craftsmen, etc whose livelihood have been affected should have been provided for but this sadly was not done.
If the government has planned robustly and taken all stakeholders into account, the dredging of Ogba River could have predated the storm Water Project and the dredged sand alone could have paid the cost. The dredging could have opened the river to inland water transportation and tourist activities. Inland beaches could have been created for beautification and revenue generation. The present administration in spite of the huge resources available to it thinks mechanically instead of organically and robustly. A multidisciplinary project team comprising Engineers, Socio-economist, Hydro-biologists, Agriculturists, sociologists etc must be quickly set up to study this problems and formulate remedial measures to deal with it.
First published on the 6th day of November, 2015.
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