PORT HARCOURT (Sundiata Post) – Dr. Dakuku Peterside, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State has described the Rivers Monorail as a project of uncommon vision. Peterside who described the rail project as a product of a man who saw tomorrow, commended the initiator, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers State for his courage and visionary leadership.
He made the statement at a Town Hall Meeting with new voters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. Peterside who told the youngsters that some projects, by their sheer size and revolutionary concept, are designed for more than a generation, said the Rivers Monorail is one of such.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
According to Peterside, almost every successful great idea in the world, at one point or the other, suffers derision before the ultimate applause that usually greets it. The same faith, he believes, awaits the monorail.
He assured the new voters that in fullness of time, Nigeria and Rivers people will appreciate the visionary project.
Peterside cited Jebel Ali Port, the maritime marvel of Dubai which is the largest man-made harbour in the world as being in the same mould with the monorail. According to the APC candidate, when Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, a former Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirate conceived the mammoth engineering feat in the 1970s, he was derided by people of his generation. But the truth, he revealed, is that Maktoun was clearly ahead of that generation.
For instance, the Seattle monorail in Washington took 8 years of planning; the Mumbai monorail in India also took 8 years of planning and another 8 years of execution.
To the people of Maktoum’s time, a seaport in the middle of a desert was not only inconceivable but impracticable. Today, Jebel Ali Port is the biggest port in the Middle East and sixth biggest in the world, transporting goods to destinations all over Europe, Africa and Asia.
Peterside promised to complete the monorail and deliver it to the people of Rivers State because it will ease transportation problems and also aid tourism.
“We will continue with monorail and ensure that we complete the second phase. What we will do differently is that we will involve the private sector. If you have a city with a functional monorail, you will be proud. Port Harcourt will be beautiful and we will all be proud of it.
“If you have a vision, nothing can deter you. I can assure you that Rivers State will not always be like this. Our vision is to have a state that will be a tourist haven, where people from different parts of the world will long to visit. For people to leave their own city to come to our own city, we must have what they don’t have. Our city is growing rapidly and in a short time, land transport will be inadequate for our city”.