2nd January, 2018
A former Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien has urged Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom to fast-track work on road projects in the state.
Essien gave the advised at an interaction with stakeholders, PDP chieftains and leaders in Eket Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday.
He said that the pace of work on road projects in Eket and its environs was very slow.
“I want to say that the project is on a very slow pace, but I want the state government to hasten up work on the Eket Urban Renewal projects,’’ Essien said.
The former minister also advised Udom to complete most of the road projects before the end of his first tenure in office.
“The pace of work is slow; I want it to be completed before the end of tenure of this administration so that we can pursue other projects,’’ he said.
The former minister called on the state government to put street lights on the 19.5 km Eket-Ibeno Road, which leads to the operational base of the multinational operating in the state.
“We are also aware that the Eket-Ibeno had been dualised, but we are now calling on the government to put street lights from Eket to Ibeno, because that is the essence of such road.
“Street lights are the beauty of such road,” he said.
Eket-Ibeno Road was inaugurated on May 24, 2017, but has yet to be completed.
Essien added that 20 roads had been awarded in Eket Local Government Area, but work has yet to start on most of the roads.
“There are some roads within Eket Town in which work has not started; we are calling on the government to look at the state of roads in some of the towns in the area,” Essien said.
The former minister also urged the governor to award contracts for some developmental projects in Okon in order to give the area a facelift.
He said that lists of major road projects had been submitted to the appropriate ministry to ensure the development of the area.