Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Diezana Allison-Madueke, has said that the Port Harcourt Airport, closed since August 29, 2007 for renovation but stalled, will resume operations in the first quarter of 2008.
She also said that with the improvement in the security in the Niger Delta, Julius Berger, German construction company handling most of the federal contracts in the region, would return to site and enhance the completion of the East-West road in record time.
The Minister, who arrived the Air Force base six hours behind schedule, explained that the putting up additional infrastructure which were not in the original plan accounted for the shift of the reopening of the airport till next year.
“The most pragmatic answer to that is that it will be ready by the first quarter of next year. The reasons are two-fold: one, Julius Berger is back on the job and is working very hard at completing the runway in the next three months; at the same time, we are getting a category III lighting put in place as well”, she explained.
According to her, although the rehabilitation of the terminal building was not included in the initial plan, she said her ministry was partnering with the Rivers State government to rehabilitate the terminal building so that users of the facility will have value for their money.
She reasoned that it would not be a good decision to go to the extent of putting a category III lighting facility, rehabilitate the runways and leave the old terminal building the way it was.
On the East-West road, she pointed out that the stumbling block to its completion was the security situation in the region but added that since the situation has improved, Julius Berger was about going back to site.
“We all know the security situation we have had in this region that is abating now and Julius Berger is about going back to work so that will be rectified shortly, everything remaining the same”, she assured.
Asked what has become of the N2 billion that Rivers State government under former Governor Peter Odili made available to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for speedy completion of the renovation works, she replied that the state government was aware of its “judicious utilisation”.
“The money has been judiciously used. I can assure you of that. The Rivers State government is fully aware of how it has been spent. Julius Berger is doing the work and part of the money we are using to do the work is actually from the government. We are partnering with the government of Rivers State in all we are doing”, she said.
Governor Celestine Omehia had several times raised alarm over the abandoning of the Port Harcourt Airport which he lamented was the only international airport in the entire South East and South-South geopolitical region.
He, at a point, threatened to take over the airport if the federal government was no longer willing to run it, pointing out that travellers to the State who are forced to land at Owerri run a lot of risk to travel by road to their destinations as they were most times attacked by armed robbers.
Initially, Odili had announced he was committing N4 billion to the rehabilitation of the airport on a refundable basis but released the initial N2 billion for the job which he also observed was not applied to remedy the airport on time for flights to resume.
Julius Berger had cited security problems following the increase in the kidnap of expatriate workers in the region and had to pull out of site when their workers consistently came under threat.
Diezana, who was received at the airport by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Tele Ikuru, was scheduled to inspect Eleme Junction which records the highest traffic snarl in the region. She was also billed to inspect the Port Harcourt International Airport at Omagwa and later, the East-West road before going to Onne to inspect some federal projects there.
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