By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
There are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration will leave a legacy for itself by completing the dualization of Calabar/Itu Highway before exiting office in 2023.
The prediction follows the speed of the ongoing work by the contractors handling the various sections of the road project.
The road, which has been awarded in three tranches to Julius Berger, Sermatech Engineering Construction Company and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), has so far been made motorable especially on the part handled by Sermatech.
Taking newsmen on a tour of the entire stretch of road on Tuesday, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Ita Enang said the road was awarded to Julius Berger at N54b, CCECC at N52.2b and Sermatech at N79b.
Enang, who assured that the entire stretch of road has been awarded for dualization however apealed to Julius Berger to borrow a leaf from Sermatech by taking some palliative measures to make the portion of road awarded to them motorable .
In his words “From Ikot Ekpene with Spurs in Ididep- Ibiono Ibom to Mbak Ekid Itam in Itu has been awarded to CCECC, a section from Mbak Itam to Oku Iboku Junction, has been awarded to Julius Berger, from Oku Iboku Junction to Ikot Nyong by Power Plant in Odukpani, Cross River State, has been awarded to Sermatech and from Power Plant to Odukpani Junction, is still awarded to Julius Berger.
“I initiated this project when I was Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters. We had difficulty accessing funds for the road. But now His Excellency the President, has asked me to come and assure you that we have raised money from the Tax Credit Window granted by the Federal Inland Revenue service to the NNPC to fund critical Infrastructure.
“A great part of the N600b raised from NNPC as tax credit has been dedicated to this road. The road was awarded in three tranches, the first was at 54b to Julius Berger, the second at N52.2b to CCECC and the third was at 79b to Sermatech Engineering. I want to assure you and confirm that it is for dualization, not rehabilitating, not reconstruction.
“Remember that this road was designed for dualization since 1972 and its fulfillment is only coming during Buhari. The road is so far motorable. i want you to give a lot of cooperation and support to the construction companies”, He said, while addressing the Village Head of Ikot Abiyak in Oku Iboku who sought confirmation that the road was truly awarded for dualization.
Addressing the Presidency/Construction team, the Village Head of Ikot Abiyak in Oku Iboku, Etidung Effiong Bassey Ikotidem applauded Sermatech Construction company for making the road motorable. The Royal Father however appealed to Julius Berger to assist the host communities to cope by reducing the dust.
“Sermatech has been able to keep the road motorable, they water the road every two days to reduce dust, they have shown great capacity. Please help us to also appeal to Julius Berger to come to our aid. it is highly insensitive not to water the road after putting the surface cement on it. the dust on their portion of the road is killing us.
Speaking on behalf of Sermatech Engineering Construction Limited, the Site Agent, Engr. Joseph Ukpata said the company has been fully mobilized to site
Ukpata, who confirmed that his company has so far cleared over 7km of the 28km awarded for dualization, with earthwork completed on some parts of the cleared stretch, hinted that the project which was earlier scheduled for a four-year duration has been reviewed to be delivered in April 2023 .
To maintain a cordial relationship with host communities, Ukpata assured that over 100 workers have been employed from the communities along the road.
He assured that Sermatech Engineering has the needed expertise, equipment and manpower to deliver high quality dualized road, the four bridges and the many culverts on its assigned portion.
It would be recalled that the bad stage of the road couple with heavy vehicular traffic flow due its being the only access road linking South South and South East States has for over 10 years claimed dozens of lives and vehicles through frequent accidents.
