CALABAR — The Cross River State Government has entered into a concession agreement with an indigenous firm, Day Star Nig. Ltd., for the construction of a 45 kilometres road network and provision of other socio-economic amenities in the quarries concentrated areas of Akamkpa Local Government Area of the state.

Mr. Eyo Ekpo, Special Adviser to Governor Imoke on Special Projects, who disclosed this to newsmen shortly after the 36th State Executive Council meeting in Calabar, noted that barely one month after the passage of the Public Private Partnership, PPP bill into law in the state, which empowers the private sector to provide the management skill, financial and technical resources required to implement projects and programmes that will impact on the majority of the citizenry, the state has begun to witness private sector participation in actualizing its visions.

He added that the road network which covers Old Netim and Obung communities with a distance of 15 kilometres, will be extended to Akamkpa Urban and Nsan community, to increase it to 45 kilometres.
He explained that over 95% of granite produced in the state comes from the area and that it required access roads, which is currently posing a lot of challenges to evacuate the product to construction sites within the South-South region, adding that the N12 billion investment by the company will not only be for road construction, but will cover provision of schools, medical centre, water and sanitation facilities as well as educational aids.

Mr. Ekpo maintained that the concession exercise which will have a 16 years pay back period, had received the approval of the executive council, adding that a business plan had been developed, technical evaluation completed and environmental impact assessment carried out to commence work soon.

He explained that when fully operational, every quarry within the area will be linked to one another with an access road to Calabar – Ogoja highway.