Calabar-Itu Road: SERMATECH Dismisses Group’s Call For Contract Revocation As Misleading

By Ebi Collins

SERMATECH Nigeria Limited has dismissed calls from the Cross River South Consultative Forum for the revocation of the contract awarded to it for the renovation of some sections of the Odukpani-Itu highway.

The civil engineering company (SERMATECH) made the assertion through its Cross River representative, Ento Edako, in reaction to the sinister motives of the benighted group, noting that SERMATECH has kept a track record of successfully delivering on its mandate to all clients.

“The appeal coming from a supposed group called Cross River South Consultative Forum, requesting for revocation of Odukpani-Itu Road is a call in ignorance. The said group is not properly informed,” he spewed.

The engineering company condemned the group for being blind to the fact that the SERMATECH portion of the road is not 50km as wrongly purported by Cross River South Consultative Forum, but 28km.

The company also discredited the group for being oblivious to the fact that the portion that was mentioned in their spurious claim is not within SERMATECH’s purview, but rather a different company, as SERMATECH is not the only company involved in the project, adding that “the number of bridges under SERMATECH is four, and not five as stated by this poorly informed group.”

SERMATECH also informed that it had, twice, carried out palliative interventions on the portion of the road albeit not under its purview when traffic collapsed in a bid to ameliorate the suffering of commuters and other road users.

“Cross River South Consultative Forum should get proper information from project stakeholders such as the Federal Ministry of Works or NNPC in other not to mislead the public.

“Since we commenced work in the Odukpani-Itu Road, no section within our stretch of work has collapsed. This is because we carry out palliative works continually to ensure the free flow of traffic,” the SERMATECH representative stated.

Continuing, it said: “Worthy of note is that our project spans through two critical swamps. The Okpokong swamp and the Calabar River swamp. The Okpokong swamp is 5km. This section is fully constructed with pavements that work up to the Binder course layer. Motorists are already enjoying the smooth road. It has survived more than two years now without issues.

“Also, active work is ongoing at the Calabar River swamp. The section is actively receiving adequate geotechnical treatment; subsoil drainage to lower the groundwater table, excavation and removal of unsuitable materials, hardcore filling, and sand fill to stabilize the section.

“Out of the 4 bridges in our section, we have fully constructed and completed 2; Atan and Okpokong bridges, respectively. The third bridge, Ayadeghe, is at the capping beam level; all precast beams are completed and the two abutment walls are completed. The four existing old bridges have also been rehabilitated to have a new look.”

The indigenous engineering company advised Cross River South Consultative Forum to always do some fact-finding and cross-check such facts before going to press so as not to misinform the people.

The Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, Cross River chapter has, in solidarity, also condemned in totality the misguided information being circulated by the group.

See photos below…