Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
- Terminal needs additional power, water supply
MINISTER of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has said the completion of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, is dependent correcting certain problems including works on power and water supply as well as its blocking the control and fire towers.
Sirika who made this known while inspecting the terminal which is part of the US$500 million dollars loan from Chinese EXIM bank and 100 million dollars counterpart funding from Nigerian government said there was a foundational issue which had altered the master plan of the airport
Explaining the delay further, Sirika said that the planning of the project did not envisage that the building would lead to additional works, power and water supply stating that there is insufficient capacity of the existing power and water supply in the airport to cater for the new building.
And also that after erecting the terminal, it was also discovered that the building would block both the control and fire towers which would require relocation of towers.
He said that additional work was also required to link it with the existing terminal as well as expanding the apron to accommodate bigger air planes.
These challenges, he said, would result to requiring additional funding.
Sirika also stated that quality of work is acceptable but the pace of work is not acceptable because this project should have been delivered by now.
“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.
