Delta assembly okays N4.5bn bond for Warri-Effurun water scheme

The Delta State House of Assembly has approved Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s request for N4.5billion performance bond.The bond from Fidelity Bank is for the completion of the Warri-Effurun Water Scheme.The Speaker, Sheriff Oborevwori, read the governor’s letter for the concession at yesterday’s plenary.

According to the letter, the state government had secured the offer and approval of Fidelity Bank for the issuance of the performance guarantee bond with some terms and conditions. He said the benefits of the bond made the state to enter into the agreement, under the new funding plan, particularly in the face of the paucity of funds.

The Majority Leader, Tim Owhefere, explained that the Warri-Effurun water scheme was inherited from the previous governments.
He said the concession would take the risk off the government and make water available in houses in Warri, Effurun and its environs, adding that the project had reached the finishing line.

Pat Ajudua, Samuel Mariere and Tonye Timi, who stressed the importance of water to human activities, also supported the governor’s request.

According to the lawmakers, the House had earlier set up a committee to look into the viability of the project.They said the debt management office had also approved the arrangement, which would make government to stop funding the project.

The request was unanimously adopted in a voice vote presided over by the Speaker.Also at the plenary, the House took the presentation and first reading of a Bill on Remuneration, Salaries, Allowances, Gratuities and Pensions of Certain Public office Holders and Bodies Amendment.

Azuka Azaka, representing Ndokwa West Constituency, moved the separate motion for the presentation and first reading of the bill, which was seconded by Oboro Preyor and Ajudua.

However, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) described the approval as fraudulent, adding that Okowa was not ready to develop the state, but allegedly diverting funds into “personal pockets.”

A chieftain of the party, Edwin Akafah, urged the governor to be accountable to the people, alleging that his administration had made no meaningful development in the last two years.

Meanwhile, members of the Obi Road (Dein Motor Way) Landlords and Landladies Association in Agbor, have appealed to the governor to repair the road to save them from environmental and ecological disaster.

At a meeting hosted by Mrs. Margaret Okonta, the Chairman of the association, Mr. Gabriel Ekwuazom, said the appeal became necessary, following the threat of gully erosion in the area.

He disclosed that the erosion menace has crippled the socio-economic activities in the community, as residents find it difficult to access their houses due to the deplorable nature of the road.

“Dein Motor Way, which starts from the palace of the Dein of Agbor down to Delta Line Motor Park, located at Uromi Junction in Agbor, is in a deplorable state. Whenever it rains, our children and women do not go to school and market for fear of being swept away by the rampaging flood,” he said.