Politics
By Tennyson Sampson
THE residents, business owners and students of Urua Ekpa area of Uyo have decried the poor state of the road and the slow pace of work by the contractors handling the road project.
The 3-kilometer-long Urua Ekpa road, which connects the University of Uyo Campus and Urua Ekpa Community by Calarbar-Itu Highway was awarded to Benest Technical Services, a construction company in June 2022, according to some residents of the area.
The road, which had been abandoned by previous administrations until Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel’s intervention late last year, has suffered several set-backs, including the challenge of heavy rainfall.
One of the residents of Urua Ekpa, who spoke to Realnews, Pastor Godwin Uyoenang, said that the contractors had delayed the execution of work on the road.
“A road project that is not more than 3 kilometers has taken nearly two years and it is still not near completion,” he said.
“They started off with the underground drainage since June last year and up till now they are yet to get done with the drainage,” he said.
Godwin also said that a good number of businesses had been forced to close down, due to the deplorable state of the road and lack of patronage. He explained that the situation has forced many residents to relocate from the area.
Another resident, Mr Chidiebere Nwosu, said that the contractors had been shabby and not organized since they began the road construction.
“I wonder why such an important contract should have been awarded to them,” he said.
“I think they are either poorly funded or lack the capacity to effectively complete the road,” he posited.
Also speaking, Miss Victoria Joseph Friday, a final year Business Management student of Uniuyo, who operates a unisex saloon along the road, said that since the road construction began up till this moment, the work is not advanced much and there is no hope that they would complete it by December.
According to her, there is little or no vehicular movements, all the activities have been truncated as business have been shut down.
“Students are barely able to walk through the road, especially when it rains, making us miss lectures at times,” Miss Joseph lamented.
“We are pleading for the swift intervention by His Excellency, Gov. Bassey Umo Eno, to get the contractors to speed up work so that normalcy can be restored in the area.
Urua Ekpa road links Itu road, Ikpa road, Church road, Idakakpo and calabar-Itu High way.
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Tags: Gov. Bassey Umo Eno Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel Pastor Godwin Uyoenang
