Cross River Government has disclosed plans to build a 4,000 capacity park for articulated vehicles to decongest Calabar roads.

The government said the park would be fitted with basic facilities such as a hospital, hotel, spare parts, mechanic village and warehouse.

The design of the park is being fine-tuned and will be built under a public private partnership arrangement.

The state Commissioner for Transport, Ekpenyong Cobham, announced this in Calabar on Wednesday.

The commissioner, who spoke on a range of policies to boost transportation in the state, further disclosed plans to construct bus stops on major roads in Calabar and also introduce colour code for public transportation in the state.

He said all these were deliberate efforts to restore sanity and enhance security in transportation, and enhance anaesthetics in the state capital.

Mr Cobham said, “The plan is not just for road transportation alone, we are also taking advantage of the state’s advantageous position in the Gulf of Guinea to enhance water transportation. For the trailer park which is between 3,000 to 4,000 capacity, it will create thousands of unskilled and skilled jobs during and after construction and also help to decongest and restore sanity to the city centre.

“It will have three large warehouses, hospital, hotel and mechanic and spare parts village, among other facilities. The park will create opportunities for investment in Cross River and will also encourage other players to look in the direction of investing in the state.”

On the colour code and bus stops, Mr Cobham explained that the aim was to complement the government’s effort at securing the state, as well as restore aesthetics to the city.

He said, “Already, various bus stops on the Calabar carnival routes will be completed in the next few days while others will follow suit. All we are trying to do is to restore the culture of sanity in the public transportation sector by compelling commuters to make use of the bus stops.

“We are also using the colour code to enable security in the city as we have had several complaints of diversion of buses and ripping commuters of their property. We are not oblivious of the present economic challenges, so we are going to give them reasonable time frame.’’

Mr Cobham spoke on the plans to streamline ticketing for public transportation in the state.

He said, “Ticketing problem is multi-faceted, full of duplicity, high charges and enforcement. We are working to streamline them, but we, however, need to be careful in doing this.’’

(NAN)