Mrs. Binta Bello, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, during an inspection of ongoing projects at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Rivers State revealed why the re-modelling of Nigerian airports have stalled.
According to the Daily Post, Bello, at the weekend said the non availability of funds from the government is to blame for the projects being abandoned.
The abandoned projects include the airport power contract, protocol lounge and landscaping at the Lagos airport and construction of departure and arrival halls at the Port Harcourt airport.
It was reported that Mantrac Nigeria Limited, the contractor handling the Lagos airport power project, will not to return to site until government returns the money it has spent on the project.
An official of the company discreetly said that some generating plants were not operating at the Lagos airport due to a lack of funds.
Bello was told work on the protocol lounge at the Lagos international airport has been abandoned due to lack of funds.
Work at the Port Harcourt international airport phase one (departure) handled by Inter Bau Construction Ltd, has been completed up to between 80-90% while work on phase 2 (arrival) has relatively not started.
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Chairman of the company, Sir Nath Okechukwu, speaking to newsmen after the inspection said: “In phase 1, we have done about 80-90 per cent and phase 2 is almost nil. In phase 1, our money got exhausted. We don’t have money and we have to suspend work.
“In phase 2, the total sum then was N1.7 billion. But it has gone up, though we don’t know how much we are coming up with.
“We hope very soon they will make some payments so that we may go back to work. The owner of the project has just finished inspection. When she gets back to Abuja, then we will know what she is coming up with.”
He added that: “if money is made available, we will deliver the project(s) before the current administration marks its first 100 days in office.”
The permanent secretary said she was there to ensure that work on different projects had been completed as per the money contracted out adding that the ministry will look into the problem of shortage of funds.
She said: “Work is progressing very well. I am actually happy with what I have seen. I have seen the determination to improve infrastructure at the airports and we are taking what we have seen back to Abuja. I’ve been told they had some challenges during the take-off of the projects.
“They have overcome most of them and they are working very hard to close the gaps created by man-hours lost. I am satisfied with the work done so far. If they didn’t have initial challenges, they would have gone further than where they are.”
Meanwhile, reports have emerged that the N11 billion brand new Dutse international airport could be abandoned as Jigawa state and the federal government may not have the necessary funds to maintain the airport.
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