Cross River begins rehabilitation of Calabar-Itu road

Ayade

In response to the complaints associated with the bad state of the Calabar-Itu road, the Cross River state government Tuesday commenced intervention on the federal government road.

The remedial measure is aimed at bringing quick relief to road users in the state.

In a related development, G

overnor Ben Ayade has called on the tankers drivers who embarked on strike as a result of the bad state of the road to call off their strike in the interest of Cross Riverians.

It would be recalled that some months back, the government carried out a similar intervention on a federal road at Odukpani axis of the state.

Leading the state government delegation on a spot assessement of the road which has been in a very terrible state, the Chief of Staff to Governor Ayade, Mr. Martin Orin said as a responsive government, the administration views seriously the plights of its people, noting that the challenge on the road is of great concern to the state government.

He lamented that the bad state of the road was the reason why the tanker drivers in the state have embarked on a strike.

According to him, Cross River state is taking charge of the section of the roads that affects the state and appealed to its Akwa Ibom State counterpart to rehabiliate the section of the road that concerns the state.

The Chief of Staff advised Cross Riverians and other road users to be patient with the state government, assuring them that everything was being done to alleviate their plights.

Reiterating his call on the tanker drivers to call off their strike, Orim said the state government was doing everything to fix the road in the interest of the people and assured them that in less than two days the road would be fixed.

Speaking on the level of intervention the state government intends to carry out on the road, the director of civil works at the state Ministry of Works, Engineer Godwin Akeke revealed that “it would require a whole lot of work. What you are seeing here are unsuitable materials. We intend to remove all the unsuitable materials impeding the road and replace them with hardcore to get the road to a very good state.

“We don’t intend to do a temporary work, what we intend to do is what will stand the test of time and all agencies have been mobilised to ensure smooth flow of traffic as the work is going on, ”he stated.