Governor Siminalayi Fubara has announced that the popular Obiri-Ikwerre dumpsite on Airport Road will be relocated due to environmental concerns and the need for a cleaner gateway to the state capital.

Mr Fubara made the remark during an inspection of an alternative dumpsite project at Eneka-Igwuruta in Ikwerre council area on Tuesday.

He described the existing site as a public health threat and an eyesore for visitors arriving in Port Harcourt.

“The kind of environmental hazards that we are facing along the Airport-Obiri-Ikwerre road, the smell on that road being the entrance into the state, we felt it’s not proper. So, we are making alternative arrangements so that we can have a permanent refuse dumpsite that meets acceptable standards,” he said.

Mr Fubara added that the government would move swiftly to formalise the ownership of the land and complete the construction work on the access road to make the new site functional.

“We have not concluded the issue of the burrow pit, but the access road. I think the government is doing something about it.

‘’So, I will make sure that everything that needs to be done to ensure that the government owns this burrow pit is done,” he stated.

Mr Fubara commended the Rivers State Waste Management Agency for its improved approach to managing refuse across the state.

The governor also inspected the ongoing construction of 29 units of four-bedroom duplexes for permanent secretaries at Elimgbu, in Obio-Akpor LGA, to ascertain the level of work done at the site.

(NAN)