……says 80% completed
……April 19th sancrosant for reopen…Dunoma
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo today inspected the rehabilitation work on the runway of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and expressed satisfaction on the completion of work as schedule.
The Vice President on arrival was conducted round the site by the Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Engineer Saleh Dunoma.
After the inspection tour of the ongoing, the Vice President in a chat with reporters said 80% of the work was completed, promising that the airport would be reopened as scheduled.
“We were told that we are now nearing 80 per cent and we are clearly on schedule.
“We expect to see that this will be completed without any delay whatsoever. We have assurances from the contractors and consultants that we are clearly on schedule”.
He added that, “A lot of work has been done and I heard the contractors were doing shifts for 24 hours. They have taken the job very seriously. We expect that the job will be completed on the 19th (April) as promised”, he added.
Answering questions from reporters, MD, FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunoma emphasized the critical work had been done and completion was on course.
“The other critical elements of work that we have is number one; asphalt laying, it’s about 73 per cent; traffic lighting installation is about 40 per cent. The next critical item is of course marking which will start on Monday; that one is very critical. Our regulator would have to come and certify what we have done, then we will be ready for the reopening on the 19th.
“We are seizing this opportunity of it being empty to rehabilitate the entire terminal building, all the facilities that are there – electrical and civil,”
He said there was no going back on the reopening date of the airport which is 19th April
“We will get it before the 19th. All the works that is going on there will be completed by the 19th,” he added.
“April 19 remains sacrosanct. You have seen how far we have gone, you have witnessed all the activities that you have seen going on and I want to reassure Nigerians that come 19th, we will open for traffic”,
The airport runway was closed to flight operations on March 8 to effect repairs on it for period of six weeks.
