Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, says the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, will be closed for six weeks between February and March 2017.

Addressing reporters on Monday, Sirika said the closure was to allow Julius Berger carry out total re-construction on the badly damaged airport runway.

He said while the runway would still be put to use under the six months of rehabilitation, the six weeks would allow the mid-section of the runway to be reconstructed.

Sirika said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reconstruction through the emergency procurement procedure for work to commence.

This, according to him, is because of the centrality, economy and the importance of Abuja to the general administration of the country.

He said government could not afford to close down Abuja airport for a long time as palliative repairs had been ongoing at the runway in the last three months.

“From start to finish of the runway, it will take six months. However, we will be using the runway almost throughout the period except for about six weeks when the runway will be closed,” he said.

“That is when we are going to do the mid-section of the runway.

“The government has accepted the design done by the contractor. The runway will last for than 10 years on completion early next year.”

Sirika said Abuja bound passengers from any part of the world will use Kaduna airport as alternative during the six weeks closure to passengers.

He said arrangement had been finalised with Kaduna, adding that while the federal government will provide buses to convey the passengers to Abuja, the state government will provide security.

According to him, it will cost government substantial amount of money “but we think that palliative approach is wrong because three years down we will come back to do the same repairs.

“Therefore, we decided to go for the bigger option which is to do structural repairs if the runway which will take about six months to complete.”

On the bilateral air agreement with other countries, Sirika said government had signed BASA with 18 countries that Nigerians frequently visit and do business with.

The MOUs, he said, would give Nigeria the opportunity to operate air services with 18 countries.

“With this, we have the freedom to fly and land safely in other air space and this will assist in opening our market,” he said.

dingbang:





Do u know why i am laughing? Lol leme tell you..



Was it China or Japan who reconstructed a road that was damaged seriously by earthquake just under three days, but its not like as if the nnamdi azikiwe airport run way is that bad ooo, just rehabilitation and its gona take them six months to rehabilitate..





Glory be to God

BizAllianzNg:


6weeks and not six months.

dingbang:





Do u know why i am laughing? Lol leme tell you..



Was it China or Japan who reconstructed a road that was damaged seriously by earthquake just under three days, but its not like as if the nnamdi azikiwe airport run way is that bad ooo, just rehabilitation and its gona take them six months to rehabilitate..





Glory be to God

inspiredabbey:
This is good news. At least our President will stay in Nigeria for six weeks without traveling out. How I wish they can close it for one year.

RevDesm0ndJuju:
Why Kaduna?

Instead it ought to be Minna which is just about 90mins by road from Abuja.

I guess the fact that Minna airport doesn't have any fuel depots within the airport necessitated the choice for Kaduna which is about two and a half hours distance from Abuja by road. This then begs the question about the Kaduna-Abuja rail link constructed by GEJ which the APC govt has since celebrated as being completed by them but is yet to resume full operation. Does this mean that by providing free bus services for Abuja bound passengers from Kaduna airport is just another scam by the APC or is the rail line far from being commissioned as the APC claimed?

Either way, I expect more airlines to use this opportunity to cut more jobs as they will not be able to relocate completely all their staff in Abuja.

Finally, I expect this temporary closure of the Abuja airport to affect only schedule commercial airlines both local and international thereby ruling out the total closure of the Abuja airport to smaller charter jets and even the presidential fleet. Also, I dont see European airlines using Kaduna Airport due to security concerns as they have long since stopped operating from Kano airport (or any where else in the north). That means we should expect British Airlines, Air France and Lufthansa seizing operations into Abuja (or rather Kaduna) out of security concerns. This should lead to more job losses.

Coolboi05:
I dont know what you are saying but kaduna Abuja train is working o..

He said arrangement had been finalised with Kaduna, adding that while the federal government will provide buses to convey the passengers to Abuja, the state government will provide security.

tit:
What is the dist of KD to Abuja?
What are the alternative airports?
Jos?
Can Kaduna airport take all the traffic?