The Federal Government says that encroachment into right of way is hindering progress of work on the dualisation of the Odukpani-Itu highway in Cross River.
Mr Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, stated this while inspecting progress of work on the highway on Thursday at Odukpani, near Calabar.
Represented by Mr Folorunsho Esan, Director of Construction and Rehabilitation in the ministry, Fashola stated that the ministry had no problem of funding the project.
He appealed to Gov. Ben Ayade to help resolve the issue so that the contractor could complete the dualisation work on schedule.
The minister, who expressed satisfaction with the level of work from the Odukpani axis of the highway, being handled by Julius Berger, said that the job would be delivered within the year.
According to him, “we are encouraged with the level and quality of work done so far by Julius Berger handling the 21.9km from Odukpani to somewhere near the Power Plant.
“Our major and only challenge for now is that of right of ways. Government has for long paid compensation for this but I don’t know why people are still on the right of way.
“As a matter of fact, this is delaying progress of work and we want the governor to assist in this regard since the land belongs to the state and they are his people.”
At the Oku Iboku/Itu power plant section being handled by Sermatech, the minister who expressed satisfaction with their work, however, urged them to do more in order to deliver the project by November 2023.
Mr Kehinde Bakare, Site Manager for Julius Berger, said that no fewer than 3km of the section of the road had been asphalted while a bridge and number of culverts were constructed.
“We have also done quite some kilometres of earth work and we have no issue with payment,” he stated.
Similarly, Mr Joseph Ukpata, site manager for Sermatech, explained that out of the four bridges they were to construct from the 28.6 km section of the highway, three were being worked on simultaneously.
“We have also constructed 25 culverts from the 46 on the section and we are working simultaneously on 12 locations on the section.
“Our challenge is the right of way. If this is sorted out, we can crash the deadline for delivery of the project even with the 11km running through swamp on the section,” he said.
The Controller of Works in Cross River, Mr Bassey Ekanem, said the entire project was 87km, adding that it was being handled by three construction firms.