For many decades, the people of Ataba and numerous surrounding communities in Andoni Local Government Area lived by the tide. If you missed the small boat, you slept on the wrong side of the river. If your fish or sick child needed to get to market or hospital in Bori, you prayed for high tide and a willing boatman.

That era is about to end, as NDDC prepares to commission the 1.2-kilometre Kaa-Ataba Bridge, described as the longest in the Niger Delta. The project has moved from an abandoned promise to near completion in under 18 months. When the ribbon is cut, a journey that took hours by boat will take minutes by road.

For generations, the communities of Kaa in the Khana Local Government Area and Ataba in the Andoni Local Government Area have been separated by tidal waters. Daily existence meant relying on high-risk, expensive boat transits across unpredictable river currents just to access basic education, medical care, and mainland markets. Years of abandonment left local aspirations stranded, turning what should have been a short local commute into an exercise in maritime endurance plagued by safety hazards.

A recent inspection of the bridge project confirms that the final alignments and pavement work are racing toward a month-end finish line, with commissioning eyed for November. This milestone signals a renewed operational philosophy for the NDDC: prioritising the conclusion of long-stalled legacy interventions over endless groundbreakings.

When the Minister of Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, led an inspection of the project alongside the NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku; Executive Director, Projects, Dr Victor Antai; and Executive Director, Corporate Services, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde, he affirmed that the bridge will soon open to traffic.

The minister noted that the bridge project demonstrated the Federal Government’s determination to develop the Niger Delta region, and commended the NDDC Board and Management for responding appropriately to President Bola Tinubu’s directives to deliver impactful projects in the Niger Delta region.

Momoh said the legacy project reflected President Tinubu’s administration’s desire to transform the Niger Delta region. He assured that the road and bridge project would be completed and commissioned in November.

He declared: “I have good news to transmit to Mr President. I am hopeful that Mr President will commission the project in November,” commending the NDDC Board and Management for responding to the President’s directive to deliver impactful projects in the region.

Also speaking during the inspection, the NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, reiterated the Commission’s commitment to the presidential mandate to change the narrative in Nigeria’s oil-producing region. Ogbuku affirmed that the Commission would do everything necessary to enable the contractor to complete the project on schedule.

The NDDC boss restated the Commission’s commitment to the presidential mandate to complete all legacy projects in the Niger Delta region. He affirmed that the Commission would do all that was necessary to enable the contractor to complete the project on schedule.

Antai said the project’s significance went beyond its engineering scale, reflecting the transformation under the current NDDC Board and Management. He described it as evidence of the Commission’s shift “from transactional to transformational,” where projects are designed to create lasting economic and social impact for host communities.

He linked the bridge to President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly the Federal Government’s commitment to completing critical legacy projects and delivering infrastructure that connects communities and unlocks economic opportunities.

Ogbuku reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to completing legacy projects in line with the presidential mandate, noting that adverse weather had slowed the movement of construction materials and contributed to delays.

He said that the bridge was part of NDDC’s push to link riverine and hinterland communities in the Niger Delta, noting: “For residents, it is more than concrete and steel. It is access to schools, hospitals, and markets that were previously cut off for half the year.”

Ogbuku appealed to communities in the area to protect the legacy infrastructure. Recall that at the flag-off of the reconstruction of Sapele-Benin in Delta State recently, the NDDC boss assured: “We will not be on this site for too long.” The same urgency is driving the Kaa-Ataba Bridge to the finish line.

Giving technical details of the project, the NDDC Executive Director, Projects, Dr Victor Antai, said the landmark project comprises a two-kilometre double-lane road with two bridges, including the 1.2-kilometre main bridge linking Kaa in Khana Local Government Area with Ataba in Andoni Local Government Area.

He explained that the Kaa-Ataba Bridge project comprised two bridges, stating: “The first bridge has 57 piers, while the second bridge, which is 250 metres, has 15 piers.”

He added that the bridge would link communities long separated by waterways, reduce reliance on boat transport, ease the movement of agricultural produce, boost trade, and improve access to schools, healthcare and other essential services. It would also open an additional route toward Bonny Island, expanding economic opportunities across Rivers State and the wider Niger Delta.

The Managing Director of the contracting firm, Engineer Christian Emeozor, said work on the bridge has reached 95 per cent completion and promised to deliver the project within a few weeks.

For members of the benefiting communities, better days are here. The second-in-command to the Paramount Ruler of Ataba Kingdom in Andoni Local Government Area, Chief Idan-Owaji Erasmus, applauded the NDDC for executing the project, noting that it would enhance social and economic activities in the local communities.

He assured the NDDC that his people would cooperate with the contractor to ensure the project was completed on schedule.

A community leader in Ataba, Mr James Akpotor, put it simply: “We have buried people waiting for boats. We have lost perishable farm produce because we couldn’t cross. This bridge means our children can go to school and come back safely.”

The NDDC has tied infrastructure to agriculture in its mandate. The Kaa-Ataba Bridge sits on a corridor that feeds Bori, Port Harcourt, and beyond with farm produce. Right now, post-harvest loss is high. Perishables rot waiting for boats. Input costs are high because fertiliser and seedlings must also come by boat. With the bridge, trucks will roll in. Middlemen will disappear. Prices will drop.

The NDDC says the project aligns with its goal to “enhance food security and poverty reduction in the states under its purview.” It also supports the larger Agric Summit plan where NDDC is pushing for “regional agricultural integration” across the nine Niger Delta states.

The Kaa-Ataba Bridge reflects a shift in how NDDC is delivering projects. After years of delays, the current board prioritised completing legacy projects. Instead of commissioning for optics, NDDC is linking roads and bridges to economic corridors; farms to markets, islands to cities.

A commercial motorcycle rider in Kaa, Mr Johnbull Shedrack, said: “Now we carry passengers to the waterside and wait. When this bridge opens, we will ride straight to Ataba and charge half the fare, and our business will double.”

A fish seller in Ataba, Mrs Edna Ikuru, said: “My fish will reach the urban markets fresh. No more ice, no more losses. God will bless the NDDC leadership for giving us this bridge.”

The Niger Delta is crisscrossed by rivers that both sustain and separate its people. For decades, development for two local governments in Rivers State stopped at the water’s edge. With Kaa-Ataba, NDDC is saying that development must cross the river too.

Beyond concrete and asphalt, the economic implications are profound. The bridge creates an unfettered artery directly into Andoni’s rich terrain, vastly improving logistics for the fishing settlements, reducing post-harvest and catch spoilage, and introducing land-based security against maritime piracy. It also establishes a strategic alternative economic gateway toward Bonny Island and neighbouring Akwa Ibom.

The Kaa-Ataba Bridge is one of several legacy infrastructure projects the NDDC has prioritised for completion under its current Board and Management, as part of a broader push to close out long-delayed interventions across the nine Niger Delta states.

As the final asphalt layers roll out across the spans of the Kaa-Ataba crossing, the isolation of Andoni’s riverine landscape recedes into history. For the people of Rivers State, the long wait is finally meeting the horizon of modern connectivity. (The Nation)