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Port Harcourt Airport to be ready first quarter of 2018

Tuesday 12/09/2017 - Source: The Guardian


The Minister of Transport, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, said the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State would be reopened for normal flight operations in the first quarter of 2018.

Allison-Madueke, who arrived Port Harcourt Monday evening to inspect all on-going Federal Government's projects in Rivers State, also disclosed that Julius Berger would soon resume work on the multi-billion naira East-West Road which it abandoned due to the recent spate of kidnapping of expatriates in the Niger Delta.

The minister told journalists that considering the level of work done already at the airport and the intended upgrading the government carried out at the airport, the most pragmatic time for the completion would be the first quarter of next year.

Her word: "The most pragmatic time is the first quarter of next year. The reasons are two folds. One, Julius Berger is back on the job and it is working very hard at completing the runway in the next three months."

She disclosed that the Federal Government was also going to install category three runway lighting system at the airport which was closed on the 29 August, 2016 by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) because of a fire incident which affected infrastructure such as the airports electrical system.

Allison Madueke who is on her first official visit to the state, said that the federal and Rivers State governments have agreed to partner in the rehabilitation of the terminal building which was not in the original contract approved by the President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration.

According to her: "We feel we cannot give back a new runway with brand new category three lighting to the consumers and give them an old building. So we are putting together a package so that they can get real value for money."

The Port Harcourt Airport, which is the third largest in the country, was built in the late 1980s. NCAA said that the closure was to last for about four months, but as at the time of its closure no contract was awarded. This prompted the Rivers State Governor, Celestine Omehia, to recently declare that the closure was politically motivated.

On the East-West Road, the ministers gave the assurance that one of the main contractors, Julius Berger had agreed to return to site following the improvement in security in the Niger Delta.

Responding to the question on the N2 billion Rivers State government paid to the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria for the repairs of the airport, she said that the money had been judiciously used, adding that the state government was already aware of this.

Omehia had in June expressed dismay on the level of work at the airport after the state loaned the Federal Government N2 billion, which is about 50 per cent of the cost of the rehabilitation work.

He said that Rivers State Government paid N2 billion into the Zenith Bank Account of Federal Airports Authorities of Nigeria (FAAN) as an interest free loan to facilitate the early commencement of work on the Airport.

The governor had alleged that the suspension of work on the project was a deliberate effort to frustrate the socio-economic activity of Rivers State and the South-South.


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