By Our Reporter
Cross River Governor, Senator Ben Ayade has invited anti-graft agencies of the federal government and Non-Governmental organizations to monitor the bidding process for the proposed Cross River Superhighway after bids opened on Tuesday.
Mr. Ayade stated this shortly after his arrival from Abuja, Wednesday where he disclosed that 71 companies have already submitted bids for the project and invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and NGOs to monitor the bidding evaluation process to ensure that standards are followed and “demonstrate transparency.”
“The superhighway and deep seaport projects are in good progress. Only yesterday, there was a major opening of the bid and about 71 different companies bided. We are using this opportunity to call on EFCC, ICPC, NGOs and other organizations to please come and watch the bid evaluation process which will take about 10 days,” Ayade said, adding that: “It is critical that we show transparency because we have very massive bids and very big international companies will be participating in the bids.”
He maintained his stance on the funding of the project and pointed out that the state had no cash for the project but will rely on a network of investors who are ready to bankroll infrastructural investments especially in sub-Saharan Africa and pledged that the state will adhere strictly to “regulations, provisions and tenets of the law.”
This comes on the heels of allegations that the state did not meet any of the 23 conditions given by the federal ministry of environment after it granted conditional approval for the Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed 275.5 kilometers road after suffering 3 rejections.
Mr. Ayade also announced that some Chinese firms will follow up with the mapping of mineral resources in the state in a few months time.
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