As part of measures to control erosion the Delta State Government has signed a 2.4 billion naira contract with Levante Construction limited for the Owanta Gully Erosion Project in Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state.
The Secretary to the Delta State Government Mr. Chiedu Ebie, witnessed the signing of the contract between the Delta State Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) and Levante Construction limited.
Mr Ebie said the contract became imperative because the Okowa administration saw the need to partner with the World Bank through the Delta State NEWMAP to tackle erosion challenges in the state and called on the contractor to ensure that the project was executed on time and to specifications.
The SSG said the project was expected to be completed in eighteen months time, pointing out that four other critical erosion and natural disaster sites had been identified in the state which needed urgent attention and they would be tackled one after another after the completion of the Owanta project.
In his remarks, the Delta State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Christian Onogba, said the contract signing was historic because it would check the menace of erosion in the area and correct the wrong impression that the project was a fluke and a political deceit.
Mr. Onogba spoke on the importance of the project which he said would impact positively on the lives of people of the area who hitherto had suffered untold hardship as a result of the gully erosion
Earlier, the Project Coordinator of Delta NEWMAP, Mr. Isaac Ifiofio, commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for his intervention in the erosion menace and expressed delight that the project would soon commence.
For his part, the Senior Project Coordinator of Levante Construction Limited, Engineer Emma Adidi, thanked the Delta state Government for awarding the contract to the company, promising that they would deliver the project according to specifications.
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