Calabar-Itu Road: CRSG Appeals For FG's Intervention On Right-of-Way
By Ogbu KOSY
Cross River State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to see to the payment of right-of-way of Calabar-Itu road so as to speed up work the ongoing dualisation and deliver the renewed hope agenda of President Ahmed Tinubu.
The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Hon. Pius Ankpo, made the appeal recently when he received the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Engr. David Umahi who was on inspection of ongoing federal roads in the state.
He appealed to the Federal Government to fashion out modalities on the payment of right-of-way so as to ease financial burden on states, especially Cross River with the least federal allocation.
"As a state we are struggling to fixed our roads with the lean resources accruable to the state from federal allocation how do we raised money for payment of compensation to speed up the ongoing rehabilitation of 'Trunk A' roads that belong to the federal government".
Hon. Ankpo restated that the loss of Bakassi to Cameroon and the ceding of the 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State have in no small measure affected the state in terms of financial structure.
He said the payment of compensation on federal government roads by states has hindered the pace of development and progress of the ongoing rehabilitation, stating that it was structured from the national without the consideration of Governors describing as a top- bottom policy.
"If the federal government had built up a structure and integrated the States from the planning stage of the policy formulation, the state would have prepared themselves to know if they will be able to participate or not."
According to the Commissioner, every Government operates on a budget and whatever is not appropriated cannot be executed, adding that should the federal government intervened and see to the payments of the compensation, aside fastening the rehabilitation process, it will also endear the people's trust on the APC administration.
He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for consolidating on the projects of the previous Government, stating that it will improve the state of infrastructure development across the board.
The Commissioner implored Cross Riverians and others utilizing the road to be patient with government, saying that there are process in construction especially owing to the fact that we fall under the mangrove forests with high density of rainfall that slows down construction activities.
