Hadi Sirika, minister of
aviation, says the rehabilitation of Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu
state will be completed before Easter.
Easter, an annual celebration
which usually holds between March and April, is the time when Christians
remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
While carrying out inspection at
the airport on Thursday, Sirika expressed satisfaction with the level of work
done so far.
“I am very satisfied with the
level of work. According to programme of work approved by us, we are beating
the deadline. Easter is indeed feasible, we are delivering this work before
Easter and that is sacrosanct by the grace of God,” he said.
“The contractor is capable enough
to deliver this procurement; it is one of the few companies in Nigeria with
runway experience. We take this job seriously because we know that Enugu is the
centre of South Eastern part of the country. By the time we are done with
Enugu, you will be very proud of this airport.”
The minister added that a
terminal building will delivered to enhance operations at the airport and that
a fence would be constructed because of security.
“On the perimeter fencing, we
will fortify our airports including Enugu to deal with the challenge of
encroachment. The terminal building is another consideration by the government,
special consideration given to Enugu because the loans that we got from the
Chinese were meant for Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt,” he said.
“But in the wisdom of government
and because of the importance of Enugu, government decided to fund by itself
through budget, the Enugu terminal building and we are progressing very well
and we will deliver the terminal building.
“The runway will come with other
equipment and other systems that will make the runway efficient and effective.
The instrument landing system is part of it, the airfield lightings, taxi
lights and others will all be part and parcel of what we will deliver in the
Enugu runway.”
The Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) had closed the runway of the airport on August 24 after
President Muhammadu Buhari approved N10 billion as intervention fund for the
project.
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