By John Odhe, YENAGOA
Traders, taxi drivers and commercial tricycle operators have cried out to the Bayelsa State government to urgently rehabilitate the deplorable portion of the Swali Ultra Modern Market Road in the State capital.
Our correspondent who visited the market on Wednesday following public outcry observed that tricyclists and motorists conveying traders to and from the busy market were finding it difficult to navigate the dilapidated areas.
Traders are attributing low patronage at the market to the poor condition of the road, while pedestrians, motor drivers and tricycle riders narrate their ordeals.
A trader, Mr. Okafor Maduka, said “the situation of the road is very, very bad. Some of our customers, when they get to this spot, the Keke cannot take them beyond this place.
“So, they will now turn and follow the expressway, and if they follow the express, they won’t come back to this side again. They will just buy whatever they want to buy over there and go back. So, this road is really affecting us seriously,” he lamented.
A tricycle operator, Adamu Yinusa, also lamented the pains they had been passing through trying to manoeuvre the deplorable road, calling on the State government to intervene.
Another tricyclist, Joshua Ekanem said: “Keke used to fall here every day. Yesterday the Keke that was conveying passengers to the market in the morning fell into that water. If not for the help of people, a woman and her little child would have drowned here.
“We are paying our taxes but they don’t want to fix the roads that are bad. How can we work to pay our taxes? This very spot of the road is also very harmful to our tricycles. We incure extra cost every now and then for buying of new parts and repairs.
“We need the assistance of the state government. Let them come and fix this road and other bad spots in the State capital.”
They further lamented the prolonged neglect of the Swali market road, which stretches from under the Ekuli Bridge to the market roundabout despite it’s strategic importance.
Meanwhile, the state government, through the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure had recently restated it’s commitment to fixing all the deplorable roads within the State capital.
The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Moses Teibowei, disclosed during a recent public function that the governor, Senator Douye Diri had already approved funds for the rehabilitation of the internal roads.
