Council chairmen in Cross River State on Saturday moaned over the abandoned state of federal roads, with a call to the Federal Government to urgently fix the roads in order to assuage the suffering of motorists.

The deplorable state of Calabar-Itu, Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja, Calabar-Oban and Calabar-Ikang roads had over the years been a concern for motorists going through them.

Apparently irked by the state of the roads, the council chairmen who gathered in Calabar on Saturday, appealed to the Federal Government to urgently commence the reconstruction of the roads.

Chairman of Calabar Municipality Local Government Area, Mr. Donatus Etim, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues in the 18 council areas, lamented that Cross River State has been cut off from other parts of the country due to the deplorable condition of federal roads.

He said considering the high traffic and pressure occasioned by heavy duty vehicles that convey limestone and petroleum products to and from the state, the road has become impassable to commuters.

Etim, however, commended the North-West Petroleum and Gas Company, located in Calabar, for providing palliatives on the Calabar-Itu and Calabar-Ikom roads, which he said had remedied the situation.

He said, “The Federal Government has abandoned the road for a very long time and also considering the high traffic occasioned by trucks that are carrying limestone and petroleum products, there have been so much pressure on the road. There is no maintenance and the road has become impassable to commuters and motorists.

“It is important that the Federal Government comes in and intervenes. They should put back the road even if it has to be with a toll. Motorists are ready to part with tokens to enable them have a smooth ride. Some vehicles go bad in the process and some resort to passing through small villages. So, people are really suffering.’’

He also lamented that the situation has drastically slowed down economic activities in the state as farmers and people with business concerns can no longer have easy access into the state.

“Motorists have heaved little sigh of relief because of the intervention by North-West. For us as council chairmen, we are very happy with the intervention and appeal to other private companies to join forces to provide palliatives before the rehabilitation of the road,” he said.

Also speaking, chairmen of Boki and Biase LGAs, Abubakar Ewa and Enebieni Ana, respectively, called on the state lawmakers in the National Assembly to ensure that the federal road projects included in the budget in their various constituencies were implemented.

 

Source: Punchng.com

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