The Federal Government disclosed, yesterday, that Section I to V of the East-West Road, which spans across five states of the South-south region, would cost above half a trillion naira to attain total completion.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Babayo Ardo, made this known at stakeholders meeting on “Access Management and Mitigation Action Plan” held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Ardo, who was represented by the Director, Housing and Urban Development Department of the ministry, Michael Oloruntola Olufemi, explained that the dual carriageway, which was designed to function as a regional spine on the East-West axis would promote unimpeded movement of goods and passengers in the Niger Delta area.

The permanent secretary identified three essential parts of the programme for the East-West Road as: Access Management and Mitigation Action Plan; Corridor Development Plan and Collaboration; and Corridor Preservation Project.

He observed that the East-West road corridor, like most federal roads in Nigeria, is being affected by settlement developments in many towns and cities along it, which include Ughelli, Patani, Port Harcourt and Eket.

He said: “It is for this reason that the ministry birthed the complementary programme to rally collective efforts to plan, protect and manage the road corridor to curtail the natural tendencies of settlement growths towards it. This would ensure that goals, targets and Return on Investment (ROI) envisaged from the road development are not diminished or lost.”

Speaking on behalf of Pen Prime Consultancy Limited, the company that prepared the final report, Dr. Daniel Peverga Dam, stated that from the findings, the East-West Road, when completed, would ease traffic and improve safety, among other benefits, which will ultimately improve socio-economic development and accessibility within and outside the region.