Obudu International Airport ready soon, says Ayade
Governor Benedict Ayade has disclosed that the Cross River International Cargo and Passenger Airport located in Obudu will soon be ready considering the pace of work on the project.
Ayade, who expressed satisfaction at the progress of work, highlighted the several benefits of the airport and the fact that it would be ready as scheduled, given the number of contractors handling the project.
A statement issued yesterday by Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Christian Ita, disclosed that Ayade, who inspected the project, said: “I am excited at the progress of work so far, we have five sub-contractors working at the Obudu Airport and we hope to finish all the earthworks in the next four months.
“The contract was only awarded earlier this year and they moved to site about two months ago and they have achieved about 35 per cent job completion. We are passionate about this project, we are aggressive about it.”
He stressed that the airport and the state-owned airline, Cally Air, were primed to change the socio-economic narrative of the state by revving up its tourism potentials.
“The Cally Air is set up to drive traffic into the state. If you take Emirates out of Dubai, you will have no Dubai, therefore, we must understand the fact that logistics is key in today’s world.”
No matter how much you want to depend on a digital world, some physical movement remains imperative,” he said.
The governor noted that the Obudu Airport was a vital livewire for the Obudu Cattle Ranch, “because it is obvious that the facility has the capacity to meet Nigeria’s tourism needs, that’s why we need to create higher footfalls and densification for the Ranch.
“To achieve this, access is critical. You cannot have access to Obudu Cattle Ranch, even if you were to come in from Lagos for example. You will have to land in Calabar and then do six hours travel on road to get to the Ranch, which is quite discouraging.
“Tourism actually cannot be tolerated, tourism is pleasure. When it becomes tolerance, it becomes torture. So, we needed to deal with the access, because even if I have to put gold in the Ranch, nobody will come unless access to it is convenient,” he stated.
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