From Chukwudi Chidiebere, Port Harcourt
The Abalama community in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, has applauded the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for executing a sand filling and reclamation project in the area.
Speaking during a pre-commissioning inspection by NDDC officials, the traditional ruler of Abalama, King Atikinson Big Tom Tom noted that the NDDC had saved the community from perennial erosion and flooding.
The monarch, who spoke through the Community Secretary, Mr. Harry Forsbrey, said that the reclamation project was very important to Abalama people because it had increased their land space. He appealed to the NDDC to also award a shore protection contract to ensure that the reclaimed areas were not washed away over time.
Another member of the community and the contractor for the project, Chief Michael West, commended the NDDC for giving his people more land to live on, noting that the area which was previously a mangrove swamp had been sand filled.
He said that the contract, which was awarded in 2014, had been completed with the reclamation of 214, 653 square metres, as well as perimeter containment bund wall for the areas reclaimed. The project, he added, included construction of concrete line drains.
Speaking at the project site, the NDDC Director of Project Management Department, Engr. Julius Tonye-George, restated the resolve of the Commission’s Interim Administrator, Mr. Efiong Akwa, to ensure that all on-going projects across the region were completed and commissioned for the benefit of the people.
