Funding won't be problem to complete superhighway – Ayade

Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has assured that funds for the completion of the proposed 275 kilometres superhighway project will not be a problem. The superhighway project has suffered lingering controversy and protests by international environmental groups and locals over fears that it would claim their National Parks, forests and economic trees.

Speaking in Calabar, Ayade said, “On the issue of where the money will come from for the construction of the super highway, please leave that to Ayade,” adding that “impossibility actually is a giant coward, but for sure, and surely, when you bring the intellectual architecture into it, impossibilities will disappear.”

“As you all know, we got N4.3 billion in the last three months as federal allocation, an indication that it is impossible for us to pay salaries, or think of such a gigantic project but we are determined to complete it alongside the Bakassi deep seaport,” the governor said.

This renewed determination by the state government to proceed with the project comes on the heels of recent final approval of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the 275km BakassiKatsina-Ala super highway by the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Ayade said he was not daunted by the controversies and protests against the project because as a professional, he was focused.

He said critics and detractors did everything to frustrate the project and that by so doing, they made them go to the drawing board to bring the best of their most celestial intellect and“put it on course to ensure that this works.”