By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR

Cross River state government has concluded plans for the commercial rollout of vibrated electric poles from the factory set up by governor Ben Ayade led administration in Akamkpa Local Government Area of the State.

The State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, made the disclosure on Tuesday during a tour of the factory adding that the Piles and Pylon factory, will play a pivotal role in the rural electrification of the state.

He said that the State Electrification Agency (SEA) was already collaborating with relevant stakeholders to ensure full take-off of commercial production at the factory.

His words: “This factory will produce all the poles and provide all the solar lighting panels that will support rural electrification programme.

“We also intend to advance it beyond rural lighting and urban lighting to get solar farms where we can generate sufficient power.

“We will use all our monopoles to provide transmission of power from the solar farms to the city.”

Ayade said that the programme will be a rapid action programme that is intended to deliver power to rural areas and semi-urban areas of the State.

“So against this background, the SEA is collaborating with third parties to guarantee full take off and production of the piles and pylon in this factory here in Akamkpa Local Government Area,” he stated.

The governor who expressed regret that the factory was heavily vandalised during the Endsars protest, however, said that most of the vandalised machineries have been ordered.

Earlier, Mr Eric Akpo, interim Director-General of the SEA, explained that products from the factory will hit the market once certification from the relevant regulatory agency was obtained.

“The Piles and pylon factory is very functional, we are preparing to hit the market with our poles.

“The only thing holding us back is that poles deployed for power reticulation have to be certified by the Nigeria Electricity Management and Services Agency (NEMSA).

“So we are expecting the NEMSA team to visit the factory in the coming weeks. Once they come, they will give us the needed certification because we have already met their specifications,” he stated.