…speaks on new facilities at airports
Posted by Sade Williams
Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Thursday said the new international terminal being constructed by the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company Nigeria Limited as part of the $500 million concessional loan from the Export – Import Bank of China, would be commissioned in the next four weeks.
Speaking at the 5th Aviation stakeholders’ forum in Abuja on Thursday, he said works have already reached an advanced stage, adding that the Ministry was working seriously with the construction company to ensure other terminals were ready for operations soon.
After four years of , President Muhammadu Buhari last week, inaugurated the new international terminal of Port Harcourt Airport, in Omagwa, Rivers State.
Sirika said in Abuja on Thursday that, the ones in Lagos, Kano and Enugu are at advanced stages of completion too.
“We have commissioned the new International Terminal Building in Port Harcourt while the ones at Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Enugu are at advanced stages of completion but the FAAN managing director is assuring me the Abuja terminal will be ready in four weeks.
“Government reconstructed Abuja runway and undertook isolated repair of the taxiway and apron, including complete remarking of the entire pavement and associated airfield lighting system.
“We have linked new Abuja International Terminal to rail station, sstreamlined various security screening points at the International Airports in line with Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business apart from the installation of solar airfield lighting at 10 airports – Akure, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Yola, Kaduna, Minna, Enugu, Maiduguri, Jos and Ibadan.
“A 1,300-capacity multi-storey car park at the International Terminal in Lagos through Public Private Partnership (PPP) was constructed last year while we completed the construction of Wing D Terminal at NAIA, Abuja”, he said.
He assured that after the completion of the terminals and installation of other facilities that are ongoin, Nigeria will in no doubt, begin to take its rightful place in global aviation.
“Nigeria handles over 16 million passengers annually while Ghana handle 450,000 annually, I can assure you that after the upgrade of facilities and the eventual take-off of Nigeria Air, the quantum of employment and improvement will be unparalleled”
Sirika, who reveals that increase in the sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product from 0.4% to 0.6% was a significant one said Nigeria presently has Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) with 83 countries, noted that many of them have been reviewed to create opportunities for domestic carriers.
