The Port Harcourt Boat Club has appealed to Rivers State governor Sir Siminalayi Fubara to intervene and save its facility from sinking due to the constant overflow of the Isaka River.
Vice Commodore of the club, Professor Miebaka Tamunomiebi, who disclosed this in a chat with LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt yesterday, said there is an urgent need to desilt and reclaim some parts of the facility’s waterfront.
Tamunomiebi stated that structures with the boat club, established in 1947 by the then investment community in Port Harcourt, will also need to be renovated and upgraded.
He said: “Yes, we are making efforts to upgrade this place, but it is not something we can do alone. We have written to the government, the relevant ministries, and the commissioners, who have been here to see the place.
“We have been appealing at every point in time for the government to look at this place and improve the quality. The club was actually started in 1947 by the then investment community in Port Harcourt. Since they left, we have been left that way.
“Some of us who have been members over the years have been trying to elevate it to what it is. We have been maintaining it. The structures need to be elevated in one way or the other. We need to touch it and desilt the waterfront so that it can become better than what it is today. So, that is what we have been doing.
“We want the state government to assist us to desilt the waterfront and maybe reclaim a bit of the waterfront because this place is going down every day. The waterfront is the most important thing we need them to do now.”
