Expansion of the East-West road at the cost of US$1bn is expected to be completed before the end of this year according to Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Stephen Oru.
The Minister was speaking on Thursday last week during a graduation ceremony of the 2nd Batch of participants of the Identify, Train and Engage Scheme (ITRENS) of the ministry.
He also confirmed that, about 90% of the road will be made of bridges and would be extended to Calabar. The Minister had said on August that the road was 77% complete. He had disclosed that the government had acquired $150m from AfDB to finance construction of the road.
The dual carriage-way expansion is under the construction by SETRACO contractors, who have currently opened up more work cans to ensure a successful completion by End year. The delay inn completion has been attributed to heavy rainfall reason.
China Exim Bank is expected to finance further construction for the extension of the East-West road to Cross River State, and the cost is expected to be about US$ 1bn according to the minister.
