The minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Thursday assured that the new international terminal under construction by the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company Nigeria Limited as part of the $500 million loan from the Export – Import Bank of China, would be commissioned in the next four weeks.
Sirika who disclosed this in Abuja at the 5th Aviation stakeholders’ forum said works have already reached an advanced stage on the terminal.
The minister noted that the Ministry is working seriously with the construction company to ensure other terminals are ready for operations soon.
Sirika said the ones in Lagos, Kano and Enugu are at advanced stages of completion too.
According to the Minister: “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.
Sirika continued that: “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 revealed that increase in the sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product from 0.4percent to 0.6percent 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.
It would be recalled President Muhammadu Buhari last week, inaugurated the new international terminal of Port Harcourt Airport, in Omagwa, Rivers State.
