The Federal government has restated its committment to the completion of the Calabar-Itu road which traverses Calabar, Odukpani, Itu, and Ikot Ebeng roads in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States.
The Director, Federal Highway, South-South zone in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Godwin Eke, who made this assurance during an inspection tour of the site on Thursday, explained that the Akwa Ibom section of the road is 12.2 kilometers, while the Cross River axis from Odukpani to the gas plant is 9.7 kilometers.
“I can tell you that we have done quite a lot of federal roads both in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo and the Federal Government is committed to complete the calabar– Itu – Ikot Ekpene road.
“I have been to all those state. I think we have done more than 300 kilometers of roads. And we are still opening up some areas that we have not been done before and with time; we would cover the whole of South South Zone.
“There is no South South State that is not benefiting from Federal Government roads construction.
“The government wants to resolve the traffic issues of this corridor. By developing this access, we want to reduce the travel time to the barest minimum and reduce the number of accident on the road and also to give the community access to better facilities,” Eke said.
On funding, the director said that for the past two to three years, funding has been constant even though it is not as big as expected, stressing that with constant funding, the project would be complete as scheduled.
Also speaking, Mr Nkereuwem Ukpong, Controller Federal Ministry of Works, Akwa Ibom said that the project span two states of Cross River and Akwa Ibom, explaining that the Akwa Ibom section would be 12.2 km while Cross River section would be 9.7 km.
Ukpong said that the federal government had completed payment of compensation for area spanning across 4.3km to ensure quick completion of the road.
Speaking to newsmen the Julius Berger site Engineer, Mr Kehinde Bakare, said that project was going on as specified and would be completed on time with proper funding.
He said, “Be rest assured that you are going to have a standard first class road here. That is what I believe people will want to see at the end of it. The delivery is not an issue as long as everything goes well.”
