By Dorcas Kang’ereha
The Cross River State government has begun the construction of a monorail project in Calabar, the state capital. The rail is expected to start operating in the first quarter of 2015, since it is to be completed in November 2014.
The construction of the project is designed to link the Calabar International Convention Centre (CICC), to Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort. There will be an elevator at the Tinapa Hotel location where people would be expected to either use the staircase or the elevator to board the rail. The project has reached an advanced stage
The rail is designed with ten coaches, to ferry 80 passengers at a time upon completion. Beside the ease of movement to and from the designated areas, Commissioner of the state, Oqua stated that, the road alignment has been approved for the access roads, soft soil investigation along the road has been done, foundation pile work has since commenced and about 80 piles have been sunk preparatory for take-off of the actual foundation for the columns. “We are looking at 15 months instead of 18 months initially agreed so as to test-run the facility before the expiration of the term of this administration,” he added
