• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Residents brace up for flooding as heavy rain wreck havoc in Akwa Ibom

flood

Residents of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital are bracing up for flooding as heavy rain has continued to wreck havoc with many streets being washed away.

Property worth several millions of naira is reported to have been lost due to the flood.

Experts have warned that due the impact of climate change, many communities are likely to witness flooding and environmental disasters.

According to a check, the rain has been pouring recently even when August break had been expected to set.

Among the areas that are worst affected are Abak road, Wellington Bassey way and Urua Ekpa street, all within Uyo metropolis.

As part of efforts to check this menace, however, the state government in partnership with the Federal government is set to begin flood control programne along IBB way in the state capital in which the a section of the road had been cut off.

Commuters had experienced untold hardship while making use of the IBB way.

The partnership is said to have been sealed earlier at a pre-bid meeting procedure for the construction of surface & underground drainage structure for collection & final discharge of metropolis flood water.

The project is expected to be undertaken the the Erosion & Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) which is backed by the World Bank.

The Commissioner for Environment and Petroleum Resources, Ekong Sampson, who led the inspection team thanked the World Bank and the Federal Government for partnering Akwa Ibom State Government to salvage the flood situation on the IBB Way and the environs.

Sampson stressed that Akwa Ibom State Government will not compromise speed and efficiency in the award of the IBB contract, emphasizing that Government is commitment to a holistic approach to tackling flood and erosion in the State.

It was not however clear when the flood control project would begin given that the road which is in the heart of the town has been in a deplorable condition for months.

 

ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo