By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa—Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has begun work on the Delta-Ondo axis of the proposed coastal road linking the littoral states of the South-South to Epe in Lagos.

Speaking at an interactive session with newsmen, NDDC Managing Director, Chief Dan Abia, said the project was expected to reduce the distance between the coastal states and the rest of the country.

The NDDC Managing Director, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Youth, Conflict Resolution and Women Affairs, Mr. George Turnah, said: “There is a road linking coastal communities in Delta up to Ondo, in fact the managing director was there a few weeks back to inspect ongoing work on the project.”

Getting our projects to work is the new focus.”

He added that the new NDDC had re-invented itself and had been given the mandateby President Goodluck Jonathan to complete all outstanding projects within the shortest possible time.

“In Delta, we commissioned a road recently and the Governor (Emmanuel Uduaghan) confessed that he never believed that NDDC could ever achieve that project.

‘’There is also a road project linking Patani in Delta State with other Ijaw communities in the deep riverside areas which have never had such opportunity.

“The NDDC now known as the new NDDC under Sebastian Dan Abia is keeping faith with Mr. President’s directive of completing on-going projects. The results are coming and we are happy with the status that the NDDC has assumed,” he said.

According to him, the new board of the commission inherited so many abandoned projects that a presidential panel on the commission came out with a frightening figure of over 6,000.

He said though the presidential mandate given to the new board forbade the award of new contracts, this had become inevitable, in view of the prevailing situation relating to some projects.