Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has given reasons why the popular Watt Market in Calabar South LGA and Ika-Ika Oqua Market in Calabar Municipal Council are to be relocated.

According to Imoke after the State Government had signed an eight billion naira agreement with Blue Waters Development Company Ltd on a New Calabar Central Market in Governor’s Office, Calabar, Wednesday, the markets have become over crowded and over grown their infrastructure provisions within their environment which calls for a proper management irrespective of their sanitation status as the cleanest markets in Nigeria, adding that government embarked on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) ,which is unique in many ways to carry along the consultant and market associations as stakeholders.

Imoke noted that the consultant has the capacity to finish the project because of its access to banks and financiers which will entail it to build and operate within the stipulated time, explaining that the new market is intended to tackle the challenges posed by Watt and Ika-Ika Oqua markets with most modern facilities as it will be monitored to ensure a classic PPP project while assuring the total cooperation of government to ensure it is realized.