Commuters plying the Calabar-Itu Road, as well as business owners whose shops are located along the road and the adjoining streets, have been counting their losses, following the excavation of a portion of the road close to Nelson Mandela Junction, in an effort to open up a drainage channel within the area, which has rendered the road impassable.
The commuters and the business owners therefore, described the company’s over two months delay to deliver the job as a show of incompetence and poor engineering output.
The commuters, who spoke to The Crest at the weekend, expressed disappointment that for more than two months since the road was cut off, the company appeared not to have shown sufficient professionalism in road construction and handling of a huge drainage system such as the Calabar-Itu Road’s.
Expressing his frustrations over the state of things, a mini-bus driver, Mr. Effiong, who uses the road regularly, told our reporter that the action of the company had made commuting along the road difficult, as all the alternative routes had become impassable.
He said prior to the diversion forced on commuters more than two months ago by the state government, some of those alternative routes were a bit motorable, but owing to heavy traffic and overstretching, the routes, according to him, had turned into a dead trap.
Mr. Effiong further expressed worry over what he said had become of commuters going and coming from Calabar, Itu and other areas to Uyo, alleging that the delay in fixing the cut off portion might be a tactics by the company to figure out ways to clear off the mess they had created.
“ I am so sad that Nsik Engineering Company has put us in dire straits for more than two months now. I want to tell you that all the alternative routes they said we should be using have completely become impassable.
“ For me as a driver; what I can say is that the work is bigger than the company, and what they are doing now is a delayed tactics to to see what they can figure out”.
A resident of Akan Hall Street, one of the alternative routes, blamed the Akwa Ibom State Government for awarding such a huge contract to a company whom he said is incapable of pulling through the construction of the drainage system.
He wondered what basis dis government used to award contract of such magnitude to a company that has perhaps not delivered on such assignment.
The resident, Mr. Bassey Bassey, also bemoaned the company and government for not thinking ahead to ensure that alternative routes were fixed before the road was cut off.
He said residents living along those areas were going through difficulty, as they could no longer have trek safely on the streets.
The commuters and residents therefore, called on Governor Umo Eno to revoke the contract and reaward it to a company with competence and track records.
They said their call for another company to take over the job was not borne out of hatred, but for clear indications that Nsik Engineering Company might have run out of ideas or been overwhelmed by the hugeness of the drainage system.
Recall that in an effort to construct a drainage system that will evacuate water from Ikot Ekpene Road and its environs, the Akwa Ibom State Government had, on 20 May, 2024, issued a release informing commuters plying the Calabar-Itu Road, of temporary closure, to allow for the ease of the construction.
However, for more than two months now, the evacuation work does not seem to have an end in sight, to free the road for the usual economic activities.
Findings also showed that some major streets in town are not motorable because heavy duty trucks are using them as alternative routes.
Our correspondent who visited the constitution on Tuesday July 30, 2024 could not speak with anybody as nobody volunteered to speak on behalf of the company.
