The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has said the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) which will be remodeled, renovated and upgraded within 22 months with N712.26 billion will be structured to accomodate the increasing number of passengers in the next 20 years.
While responding to questions bothering on the proposed project on air, he said some Nigerians have criticized the amount earmarked for the project.He advised that such people should carry out findings to ascertain the amount that is required for remodeling an airport.He also listed some airports around the world and the specific amounts used for refurbishing them.
Keyamo explained that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) determined the amount for the project and not the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development .He noted that the remodeled airport will enable economic growth.
The Minister added that the project will be funded by the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund which is one of the gains made from the removal of subsidies .He appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the initiative.
He disclosed that the first dry lease is arriving Nigeria in few days.According to him, this was made possible because Nigeria has been considered to be safe and he gave assurances around the world that Nigeria is secure for the business.
“We are tearing down the building. Only the pillars will remain. The decking , the floor and everything will go. We will redesign. What will be special in this new Terminal 1 when it’s completed is that it will be a smart airport.
“I have told people who have said the amount is extravagant to do a research to find out the cost of remodeling and refurbishing an airport. O.R Tambo International Airport in South Africa spent $1.2 million, Kotoka International Airport in Ghana spent $274 million for expansion, an airport in Angola spent $3.5 billion, one airport in Cambodia spent $1.5 billion, JFK airport in New York spent over $9 billion for an expansion and the N712.26 million we will spend is less than $500 million dollars. So, I am asking what is special in this one?
“It is not the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development that came about the amount.The Bureau for Public Procurement did .The Bureau has experts, engineers, accountants and others that looked at our bill of contents and approved the money and I think they did an exceptional work.
“We are going to have an airport that within the next 20 years, you will not see a situation where we are going to go beyond the capacity, because we are going to take care of expected growth in passenger traffic.The project will be funded through the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund.
“I saw one comment today where someone was asking that what do we need the airport upgrade for? Our airports are enablers for economic growth. Without this, some international airlines will threaten to stop flying to our country when we don’t have a good airport and runway.This affects the whole ecosystem.It also affects insurance of our local airlines.
“Over the years, we have been doing patch jobs.You will see different colour of tiles, the toilets are not working, people are complaining that the air conditioners are not working, the baggage carousels are not working, lifts are not working. Instead of doing patch jobs, we have decided to pull everything down and bring brand new equipment that can last for 20 years.
“In the next few days, the first dry lease is arriving in Nigeria. They have considered Nigeria safe now for such investments. The first line is coming from Dublin. I had to give a personal guarantee. They looked at our record and said that minister has been very serious about enforcing the Cape Town Convention. My personal guarantee mattered. I went around the world and gave personal guarantees. They said they wanted to hear from me to know if they are credible. I wrote a letter on behalf of that airline. I said, they are credible and I gave a guarantee that they will not default. Even if they default, I will make sure their aircraft is returned.
On his X account, Keyamo gave an explicit description of what the remodeled airport will look like.
“There are two international terminals in Lagos. Terminal One is that old building directly facing the long stretch of road leading to the airport built & commissioned in 1979 by the Obasanjo-led Military regime. It has two wings known as WING D and WING E. Terminal Two is the new building on the right-hand side as you drive into the airport, started by President Jonathan’s government with a Chinese loan, completed during President Buhari’s govt (with the loan) & made operational during President Tinubu’s first one month in office.
“Due to years of neglect & because the traffic over time quadrupled beyond its capacity, the building & facilities at Terminal One became totally decrepit. We have been engaged in some patch jobs over the years just to make it a bit presentable. Now, shorn of all the rhetoric, what we simply want to do is to totally strip down that building, including the entire roof (leaving only the carcass), then re-design/reconfigure it & build a brand-new airport for the nation to meet modern, international standards that can also cater for the increased traffic. Both wings D and E would be affected.
“As for the new Terminal (Two), we got approval to expand the building and the Apron (where aircraft park for boarding and disembarkation) in order to accommodate more aircraft, including wide-body aircraft. That is not all; we are constructing two new independent ring roads in and out of the airport (one for departure and one for arrival) and a bridge that will take travellers directly to the upper floor of Terminal Two Departure lounge, instead of lifting our luggage up the escalators when we are departing. It is a design error we intend to correct.
“We have also introduced smart solutions to the new designs in order to deliver a smart airport to Nigerians that can compete with any airport in the world. In all, Nigerians will be proud of what we are going to deliver.
“As the work progresses, we will be inviting the Press, Civil Society groups, members of the National Assembly and interested Nigerians on regular tours of the facility to monitor the extent and quality of work. It is part of our national heritage and we should all rightly be interested in the final outcome.
“It is important to tell Nigerians that we also have brand new Terminals in Kano, Abuja & Port-Harcourt. However, presently, they are all underutilised due to the traffic that is less than thirty percent of their capacities.”, he wrote.
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