Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said yesterday, 14 July 2020, that construction workers have returned to site and that, weather pemitting, the Enugu Airport rehabilitation project will be completed by 30 August 2020, .
The new airport reopening date is less than two months away and puts to rest doubts that have been building up over the fate of the enugu airport rehabilitation project.
Although the federal government and the contractors have had slight differences of opinion on completion date in the past, all appeared to have agreed to the new deadline.
The Federal Government had earlier given an undertaking to complete and reopen the airport by April 2020, but workers abandoned the site at the onset of the coronavirus scare in Nigeria.
The Minister who was accompanied by federal aviation as well as state government officials from the South East blamed both the onset of the rains and the disease outbreak for delay in completing the Enugu airport rehabilitation project for which N10billion was approved in October 2019.
“The workers took to their heels to ensure they remain safe,” he said.
He said over 95 percent of the runway pavement works which is the major task has been completed and that what is left now is “very little.”
As he put it, “the perimeter fence and the road are ongoing and other works to ensure that this airport, including the airfield lighting, is delivered for day and night operations”
Sirika emphasized that given the rate at which both contractor and project consultant are going, “this procurement will be delivered on the 30th of August 2020.
“This, of course, is with due consideration to the weather,” he however hedged his bet.
Altogether, the Aviation boss stressed that the quality of the work being done at the Enugu Airport is top of the grade and that on completion, the airport runway “will be one of the best in the country.”
Enugu Metro reports that this is the third shift in the completion timeline; it was originally billed to be completed in December 2019 but was shifted to April 2020 because of late approval of funds. The April deadline could also not be met because the workers left the site for fear of Covid-19.
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