Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi
EVEN when everything, such as the slow pace of work and paucity of funds point to the fact that the December 2012 deadline for fixing 11 of the nation’s airports is no longer realistic, the Federal Government insists that the target will be met.
While it however admits that the task is daunting, the government says it is forging ahead with the projects to give Nigerians and other stakeholders in the aviation sector airports, which meet global standards.
When The Guardian visited some of the airports being re-modelled by the government at the cost of N14 billion, it discovered that except for the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, no significant progress had been made in the others.
The Ministry of Aviation, which initiated and oversees the projects, had set April 2012 for their completion but later shifted the deadline to December of the same year.
But four months to the new target, there are strong indications that the government’s plan to complete the work within the period is no longer certain.
Some senior officials of the Ministry of Aviation and its affiliate agencies who spoke with The Guardian on the ongoing work on the airports, said the decay in the facilities and in the industry was under-estimated by the government when the projects were initiated.
At the nation’s airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Yola, Owerri, Benin, Kaduna, Ilorin and Sokoto, the decay is pervasive and the same overhaul is planned for them.
Early this year, Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, who tagged the entire project as an “emergency measure,” had assured Nigerians that the airports’ repairs would be completed before last April.
The worst affected are the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and Port Harcourt, where work on the facilities is yet to reach 50 per cent level of completion.
The remodelling of the airports under the first phase as planned by the minister started in the third quarter of 2011, with the completion time set for six months.
The situation has however changed and Oduah-Ogiemwonyi explained the job being done by the government “goes beyond remodelling” the airports.
“We are actually restructuring and reconstructing the airports. We are doubling the sizes of the terminals and changing all the facilities and utilities within the airports. So, you can’t call that remodelling.
“That is what we are doing to ensure that passengers have safe mode of air transportation and we want to ensure that passengers have value for their money. We also want every Nigerian and the stakeholders to be proud of the environment of our airports. It’s a total transformation of the aviation sector,” she said.
Spokesman of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Akin Olukunle, said the level of decay was beyond what was envisaged by the government, a situation, which he said, led to the delay in the completion of the exercise.
He, however, assured airport users that the government would make the facilities meet international standards when the airports are fixed.
Olukunle said: “If you look at the level of work and other new challenges, you will appreciate what we have done. The government wants to meet international standards in what we want to give to the airport users. The level of decay is beyond what was contemplated in the first place in terms of transformation.
“For instance, the Kano Airport will soon be ready. We have finished the transformation work there and a few other places too. We are at 70 per cent stage in most of the airports, including the General Aviation Terminal at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.”
Stakeholders in the sector however said the slow pace of work might not be unconnected with paucity of funds, but the spokesman to the Aviation Minister, Mr. Toyin Okpaise, told The Guardian that the projects were going according to plans. He insisted that the 11 airports would be completed before December.
Shocked by poor state of the infrastructure at the airports, the minister had announced plans to give them a face-lift at the cost of N14 billion. But while Oduah-Ogiemwonyi put the cost at N14 billion, the Managing Director of FAAN, George Uriesi, said N19 billion would be needed to complete the work.
An airline operator, who pleaded anonymity, said airlines and passengers were the worst hit by the projects as he alleged that it was taking too long to complete them.
The source cited the case of Port Harcourt International Airport as one that appeared to be abandoned and called on the minister to put pressure on the contractors to speed up the pace of work.
President, Aviation Round Table (ART), Capt. Dele Ore, asked: “What is the contract scope of each of the airports? What is the pedigree of each of the contractors? What is the level of liquidity available to each of the contractors?
He stated that with the “shoddy jobs” done at the airports, it was obvious that those who have the capacity to do the job were not considered.
Others such as the Secretary of the Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Abul Razak Animashaun, said the workers expected 80 per cent completion of work at this time but lamented that it was still at 50 per cent.
“Work is going on as you can see but we are not comfortable with the slow pace. By now, we expected that the work will at least reach 80 per cent completion level but as it is now, it is just at 50 per cent. The slow pace of work is really affecting activities at the airports. We appeal to the government to do something to fast-track the exercise,” he said.
The Head of the Department of Public Affairs of the Airport, Ola Ogundolapo, said the delay in the projects was caused by the rains.
Meanwhile, stakeholders have alleged that Dana Air plane crash of June 3, 2012 has led to a significant drop in flights within the country.
They claimed that most air travellers were still afraid of flying the nation’s domestic airlines.
The operators feared that if nothing was done to address the situation, the few airlines might go into liquidation as revenue had significantly dropped due to low patronage.
At the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Terminal 2 (MMA2), only a few passengers were seen at the airport at the weekend to embark on trips to some parts of the country.
An aviation consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konzult Limited, Chris Aligbe, told The Guardian that the current drop in the passenger traffic was a usual thing because people always withdraw from air travel whenever there was a crash.
Aligbe said to improve the passenger traffic frequency, “we need to make more flights available that will make the fares attractive to passengers. So, when the passengers are sure of their safety and the competitions is there, then fares will come down and more people are able to fly than they are flying now,” he noted.
The Director, Research and Strategy Zenith Travel and Tours, Olumide Ohunayo, said after a crash, “naturally enplanement drops, but coincidentally, about three domestic airlines also stopped operations, thereby reducing frequency and capacity in the market at a rate higher than the aftershock.”
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=96987:deadline-on-airport-projects-threatened-as-work-drags&catid=1:national&Itemid=559
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