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Remodelling projects: Aviation workers urge Senate to review N174bn debt

By on June 8, 2014

Workers in the aviation industry have called on the Senate Committee on Aviation to review the N174 billion debts owed contractors handling the airport remodeling projects in order to understand how the debts were incurred.

The Coordinator of Congress of Aviation Unions and Aviation Professionals Association, Sheri Kyari, who made the call on behalf of the workers, noted that the enormity of work going on at the airports is expected to gulp huge amounts of money.

He stated that the projects are visible and should  be identified, while the debts are aligned to each project.

Kyari however warned that this should not be an excuse to abandon the projects because the facilities would be worse than the situation they were before the projects started. He remarked that though the debt is huge but relatively less than debts incurred by government in other sectors on projects that are far less than those being done in the aviation sector.

“We are talking about 14 perishable cargo terminals where agriculture produce will be processed and exported overseas by our farmers. Two terminals at the old General Aviation Terminal (GAT) in Lagos have been completed, a new GAT for private jet operators have almost been completed in Lagos. Work is going on at the Hajj Camp in Lagos as well as the cargo terminal. Expansion project is going on at the international terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. These are big projects in Lagos alone,” he said.

He added: “There are 12 passenger terminals under construction. Some terminals have been completed and unveiled like the ones in Benin, Kano, Enugu, while others like the ones in Ilorin, Owerri, Yola, Sokoto have been completed and put in use but yet to be officially unveiled. I also know that from 2011, as mentioned by the Senate, other projects like the Hajj terminals in Kano and Kaduna have been completed and are operational. So the projects are huge.”

Meanwhile, the President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council, Dr. Bernard Aliu has acknowledged the infrastructural upgrade going on at the Nigerian airports, positing that the expansion and remodelling are needed in order to prepare the airports for the expected increase in air traffic.

It is projected that Nigeria would record 15 to 16 million passenger movement by the end of 2014 and this number would continue to increase as the country’s rebased economy attracts more foreigners while more Nigerians travel locally and overseas.

Aliu said every member state of ICAO must have to improve its airports in preparation for the expected growth in air traffic, adding that the growth is a significant contribution to the economic and social development of the country.

“The growth is positive thing because it ensures the contribution to economic and social development, but it is also a challenge. The implication is that you need more infrastructures for airport operations, for air traffic management in order to accommodate that capacity. So every member state is supposed to invest in order to accommodate the traffic growth. Aliu said.

 

 

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