While the Cross River State Government has been able to pay N39 million to waste evacuation truck owners, in the last couple of days, www.calitown.com sources say government has concluded plans to hand over the sweeping of streets in the state capital and other urban areas to contractors, taking away a critical sanitation function that has all this while been carried out by the urban development authorities in the state. Government’s action may have been informed by difficulties in effective supervision that she has been facing.
A committee headed by Efiok Cobham, CRS deputy governor, is currently working on modalities that will see contractors hire their own street cleaning staff while the urban development authorities will be the supervisory organ. “Before next month, street sweeping will be in the hands of contractors”, our source specified.
Reactions so far received by www.calitown.com have been mixed. One electronic mail to calitownword@gmail.com bemoaned “the fate of sanitation in Calabar now that these incompetent politicians are going to share the sanitation contracts among themselves”. Another reaction however maintains that “contracts will be used to settle all those who have been loyal to this government and it is not out of the ordinary”.
Most opinions expressed on the matter may be showing a preference for government handling of sanitation duties through relevant agencies than through contractors even though a few persons are of the opinion that the urban development authorities have been a potent conduit pipe, taking away funds at will. It remains to be seen how the state will fare without a sanitation regime that is internationally admired.
