FG Promises Adequate Funding of Calabar-Itu Road, Says Senator Bassey

By Bassey Inyang

The Chairman Cross River Caucus of the National Assembly, Senator Gershom Bassey, has disclosed that the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has given the assurance that the construction of the deplorable Calabar-Itu road, which is ongoing, will be adequately funded.

Bassey, who is also the Senate Committee Chairman on Federal Emergency Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), stated this during an interview in Calabar at the weekend, saying he has met the minister to discuss the state of the federal road.

According to him, “The project is actually under the Ministry of Works, and so the timelines will be budgetary timelines; and as you know, the most crucial step which is the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has been scaled through. So, the next thing is funding, and it seems that the Minister for Works has placed a priority on that road because there has been a lot of agitations from the state government, traditional rulers, the media, and the National Assembly; so I believe that it is a prioritised road.”

He said the construction of Calabar-Itu road has been awarded to three different companies, Julius Berger, one of the Chinese companies, and Sermatech.

“The assurances that I have been given by the Minister of Works is that they were using Sikuk funds for the project.

“They will make sure that they fund the dualisation of that road. Keeping true to his word, now that the contracts have been awarded and approved by the FEC, I expect that the only issue left is for them to release funds to the contractors so that they can go back and start serious work on the road,” the senator said.