The Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade has stated that the ongoing dualisation of Tinapa/ Odukpani Junction road will soon be completed.
Governor Ben Ayade commenced the dualisation of the 16.7 kilometre Federal Government road in 2018 as part of his vision for Greater Calabar Development Project and to ease traffic in and out of the capital city, the state government said in a statement.
Ayade, during a recent tour of the road, was quoted to have said construction had reached advanced stages for asphalt and would soon be completed.
The governor, who was represented during the tour by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Christian Ita, said the road was the main artery into Calabar, the state capital.
“Cross River State Government, under the leadership of His Excellency Sir Ben Ayade values the development of this particular road, which is the only access into Calabar. It is because of this that we are expanding and dualising the road despite the state of our resources,” he said.
While giving assurances to the motorists plying the road that construction would be completed before the major raining season sets in, he said the project was at the point where asphalting was commencing.
According to him, the road will be ready and motorable by April.
The Chairman of Infracross Limited, Eugene Akeh, said the agency in charge of the execution of the project was satisfied with the level of work done so far.
According to him, anyone that passed through the road a few months ago will be astounded by the level of work achieved.
He said, “When His Excellency said we should dualise this road, there was a lot of scepticism. The reason is that when you have a big project, the gestation period is a little bit large.
“But you can see now that the job has come alive, we have gone beyond the level of whether there will be and there will not be because what you see speaks for itself.”
The Director of Civil, Ministry of Works, Godwin Akeke, said contractors were working hard to utilise the dry season due to the coastal nature of Cross River State.
He said the level of work done would enable commuters to enjoy the road at the promised date of April 2020.
“I will say that the percentage completion is now at over 70 per cent. It is our intention that before the next heavy rains from April, the road should be open to traffic,” he said.
