Waterfront Regeneration in Niger Delta and Its Impact on Waterfront Settlements in Port Harcourt Metropolis

Abstract

The study analyze waterfront regeneration in Niger Delta and the problems bedeviling regeneration of the waterfront settlements in Port Harcourt, with an objective of ascertaining the socio economic, land use and physical development characteristics of the waterfronts. It also identifies constraints militating against effective regeneration of the waterfront settlements and examines how effective were past efforts in addressing the problems of waterfront has been. Data were gathered from owners of buildings and heads of households in the various selected waterfront settlements using Cluster sampling to group the settlements based on their location while simple random sampling technique was used to select seven waterfront settlements with the use of questionnaire and personal interview. Data were analyzed using simple frequency counts and percentages for the research questions. Findings reveals that the major constraint to waterfront regeneration was the fear of losing their houses, and failure of successive Governments to fulfill their promises, the preferred approaches for regeneration were transformation, complete clearance and revitalisation respectively. The study therefore suggest that Government should create a special purpose entity that will be responsible for the regeneration of the various waterfront settlements, the community should fully be involved in any regeneration project from the inception to the completion of the project and the government should draw up development plans with timelines for regenerating each settlement.