Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos
Lagos (Thisday) – There is an indication that the federal government may source for additional N10 billion to provide the basic amenities and relocate some facilities before the new terminals built at the four major airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt would come on stream.
THISDAY learnt from an informed source that the project cost would be about N10 billion and this would have to delay the projects, which is 80 percent completed.
For instance, at the Abuja airport, the control tower and fire service would be relocated.
Also, the control tower at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, would be relocated for the new terminal to become functional when completed.
In 2013, Nigeria obtained $500 million loan from the Chinese Exim bank with additional counterpart funding of $100 million to build four terminals at the four major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
The terminals, which are popularly known as Chinese terminals, as one of the conditions for approving the loan by the Chinese government was that the project would be built by a Chinese company, have almost been completed but the terminals may not go on stream soon because of physical and structural impediments.
The new terminal at the Abuja airport is blocking the fire cover building and the control tower.
While the project was planned and sited provision was not made for extra power to provide electricity for the airport and also there was no plan made for the sewage that would accumulate from the terminal when it is put in use.
Also, there was no provision made for the place where the ramp would be built to connect it to the old airside of the airport and it is a similar problem with the new terminal in Lagos, as all the terminals would be joined to the old facilities.
Inside source told THISDAY that the provision of these new structures and power would cost the government at least N10 billion.
In an interview with THISDAY, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirmed the relocation of the control tower, for cover and provision of a power plant for the Abuja airport.
Recently, the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, explained that the planning of the project did not envisage that the building would lead to additional works, power and water supply, further adding that it was also discovered that the building would block both the control and fire towers which would require relocation.
He said that additional work was required to link it with the existing terminal as well as expanding the apron to accommodate bigger airplanes.
“The contractor has told us some of the challenges he has been facing regarding some of the components of work and some additional works required for this project to be put into use. Unfortunately, some of these components are complex which would delay this job and some of them are from the foundation like that of the sewer and water. There is also the problem of the control tower blocking the access into the terminal apron and also the inadequate nature of the apron itself,” Sirika said.
Last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the provision of a new power system for the new terminal.
In an interview with THISDAY, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Saleh Dunoma said that the terminals in Abuja and Lagos were almost completed and were expected to be put to use later this year but for the structural and other changes that would be done at the terminals, especially the one in Abuja.
“In Abuja, we have an issue, because if you look at the structure in Abuja, before the new terminal, the structure was small, so there was no need to install a huge capacity of electricity. So we now need to increase the capacity of our standby.
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“There are other little, little issues like sewage system, water system but those ones are not difficult, the most difficult one is power but sewage system, we can erect facility for the terminal alone and we can also have a water system for that terminal alone but power is a bit difficult, you know power generation is not like water.
So all those issues are being addressed and we are planning that by the time this terminal is coming on all these facilities will be in place so that we can operate this terminal seamlessly,” Dunoma said.
