Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan Thursday performed the ground breaking ceremony of the multi-billion naira Delta Resorts and Tourism complex at Olori near Warri with an assurance of his administration’s commitment to the dream of creating a Delta State without oil.
Uduaghan said the project when fully operational would employ at least 6,000 people.
He disclosed that the state government recently awarded a N2 billion contract to an indigenous dredging company to undertake the dredging of the site for the special international recreation centre.
Already, several billions of naira has been sunk into the construction of the bridge leading into the complex, which is a joint venture between the state government and a foreign tourism consortium, he further said.
The governor stressed that the project was significant to his administration’s development agenda as it would go a long way in sustaining the state without oil.
The bridge is historic especially as it was specially designed to galvanise the tourism industry in the state as well as restore the lost glory of the oil-rich city of Warri.
According to Uduaghan, “We are praying to God so that this project will be logically concluded. We have awarded contract for the dredging of the site to a performing construction firm and we are playing several other roles such as providing street light and construction of roundabout and the road to accelerate the building of the industry.
“The benefit of this project is numerous. Apart from employment opportunities, the host community will enjoy power supply as well as potable water.”
He, however, appealed to the community and Delta people in general to give their full cooperation to the contractors working on the project by making peace their watchword, saying it would have watershed effect on the economy of the state in the long run.
In his brief remarks, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke, described the project as a milestone initiative of the Uduaghan administration with great potential to reposition the state and make it a cynosure of global attention.
The tourism industry has the potential to create employment for both skilled and unskilled workers and thereby empower them both socially and economically, the minister said.
Duke noted that the Delta State tourism project would be the first of its kind in Africa, and urged other states of the federation to emulate the bold initiative of the state.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Richard Mofe-Damijo, said that aesthetic physical structures would sprout in the site in a matter of months, which he said would further reinforce the genuineness of the state government’s intention concerning the tourism sector.
Mofe-Damijo appealed to the host community in Udu Local Government Area to reciprocate the gesture of the government in locating the industry in the community by embracing the project with their support and encouragement.
Highpoint of the ceremony was the ground breaking exercise by Governor Uduaghan, who was assisted by the minister.
Culled from Thisday
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