Bassey Dan-Abia, MD, NDDC
Motorists plying the ever-busy Itu-Calabar road, a major highway into the ancient city of Calabar, will soon get a relief, as a new bye-pass is now under construction to reduce the pressure at the Odukpani section of the road. The 15-kilometre Adiabo-Eseku Road in Odukpani Local Government Area, is one of the key road projects being executed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, in Cross River State.
Inspecting the project on Friday, the Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, said that no effort would be spared to ensure that the road was completed on schedule, describing the road as “a major project that deserves serious attention.” He said that the contractor had given assurances that the road would link up to TINAPA Bridge in Calabar in the next two months.
According to Ewa-Henshaw, the new link road would take off about 50 per cent of the traffic on the Itu-Calabar Road and reduce the travel time to the capital city by about one hour. He noted that a major challenge to the early completion of the road was a 200-metre bridge which was abandoned halfway by the Federal Ministry of Works. “We will certainly do something about the bridge,” the chairman assured.
Also speaking at the project site, the NDDC Executive Director Projects, Engr. Tuoyo Omatsuli, said that the uncompleted 10-span bridge, that was started about 20 years ago, would be subjected to appropriate engineering tests to confirm its strength, adding that necessary adjustments would be made to bring it up to the required standard.
He expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on the road and urged the contractor to keep the pace, even with the very difficult and challenging terrain of the project. “It is not easy cutting through the swamps to build roads. This is a typical example of the difficulties encountered in the efforts to develop the Niger Delta region and it explains why it is expensive to build roads here,” he said.
The NDDC team, which included the representative of Cross River State on the Governing Board of the Commission, Hon. Adah Pual Adeshi, also inspected the Adiabo-Okurikang-Ukem Road and the Ikot Okon Idem-Ikot Ansa-Ikot Eyo Road in Akpabuyo Local Government Area. Hon. Paul Adeshi expressed the need to continuously monitor and supervise projects being executed by NDDC to ensure that contractors delivered quality jobs. He said that the Commission would insist that its contractors adhered to timelines and set standards, adding that the engineers supervising the projects would be held accountable for non-compliance.
Also inspected were the two prototype model hostels being built by the Commission at the University of Calabar and the Cross Rivers State University of Technology, CRUTECH.
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