Ahead of the planned floating of the state’s air and shipping lines, about 10 companies have made presentations to the Cross River State Government for consideration as transaction advisors for the procurement of aircraft and vessels for the proposed Cally Air and shipping lines, respectively.
The companies that participated in the presentation for CallyAir included Catalyst Gold Innovations, Glory Airlines, Travel Essentials, Manyata Engineering, Dana Airlines and Tropic Aviation.
Others who made presentations for the procurement of vessels and fishing trawlers included Lumberg Services Limited, Strickland Services, Travel Essentials, Obyke System Consults.
In his remarks before the presentation, Commissioner for Transport, Saviour Nyong, said: “Over the years, Cross River, as a coastal state has not tapped into the benefits of being endowed with a coastal land but with the emergence of Governor Ayade, Cross River is now on track to correct that anomaly,” adding that “within a short time the state will take its pride of place where it is supposed to be in terms of maritime transactions.”
Governor Ayade expressed optimism about the prospect the projects will bring to the state.
He said state will conduct a referendum on the project to allow Cross Riverians take the final decision on which bidding company will handle the project.
His word: “We are going to have a referendum on this project; we are going to throw it back to the people of Cross River to make the final decision.”
He also disclosed that “for proper clarification, the choice of this public presentation is to allay the fears and suspicion that we have as a state, having made a public declaration that Cross River State was going to run an airline, m the intention of running an airline was not only focused on making money, but the underlining philosophy was to drive traffic to Calabar, and to boost the economy and tourism potentials of the State.”
MIKE ABANG,Calabar
