By Emma Amaize & Festus Ahon

WARRI – DEPUTY SPEAKER of Delta State House of Assembly, Basil Ganagana, said, weekend that the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were set to pool resources with Delta State government on the construction of the 38 km Uduophori-Toru-Angiama-Agoloma-Patani Road in Patani local government area of the state. According to him, the project is designed to assuage the sufferings of the people of the state.

Ganagana, who represents Patani constituency in the House, stated this while briefing his constituents at his inaugural town hall meeting at Bulu-Apelibiri community.

He said Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has approved the involvement of the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the NNDC in facilitating the early completion of the road after he discussed the issue with him.

He asserted that he was already liaising with the federal agencies to actualize the dream of constructing the road in record time.

“Let me assure you that this road is very paramount to me. I have mentioned it to His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and he has assured me of his willingness to complete the project within the limit of available resources.

“To this end, N200 million has been added to the earlier N150 million budgeted for this project to bring the total sum to N350 million to construct a portion of the road in this year’s budget. Just recently, the road contract was awarded to SETRACO. Though this is very small, but let’s have a starting point,” he said.

The legislator also assured the people of his preparedness to complete all ongoing water projects and extend the water scheme to communities yet to benefit in the area.

Appealing to the people to be patient with Uduaghan’s administration, Ganagana said the slow pace of work in some government projects in the area was occasioned by the global economic downturn, which has negatively impacted the revenue accruing to the state.