CALABAR – The Border Communities Development Commission in Cross River State said it would require N446 million to complete ongoing projects in some border communities in the state.
Its Director-General, Mr Leo Aggrey, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Sunday.
Aggrey said contracts for the projects were awarded in 2012, but they had yet to be completed, due to inadequate funding.
According to him, only N252 million, amounting to 30 per cent of the contract sum, is so far released to the commission.
He added that “the N446 million is required to pay contractors who have completed their own part of the projects, as well as re-mobilising others who were not able to continue due to lack of funds.’’
He, however, commended some of the contractors for carrying on with the projects in spite of the lack of funds, noting that the commission was making efforts to pay the contractors.
He said: “the commission is fast achieving a milestone based on the funds released as the projects are at various stages of completion.’’
The director-general said that the projects were located in 13 of the 18 local government areas of the state.
He named some of the projects to include the building and furnishing of a police barracks and drilling of a borehole in Obanliku.
Aggrey said other projects were the building and furnishing of two police stations, as well as building a health centre in Obudu.
“We are anxious to see all the projects completed before the end of 2014, to give the border communities a new lease of life,’’ Aggrey said.
According to him, measures have been taken to ensure the sustenance of the facilities beyond the tenure of the present administration in the state.
“We ensured that committees were involved in selecting and monitoring the projects so that they would take care of them.
“At completion, we would ask the communities to take ownership of the projects and by so doing, the function of the committees would shift from monitoring to maintenance,’’ he said.
Cross River maintains common boundaries with Republic of Cameroon and some states in the federation, including Abia, Ebonyi, Benue and Akwa Ibom. (NAN)
