Abuja airport runway 96 percent complete – Sirika

The Minister of State Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has said the ongoing rehabilitation works at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja is now at 96 percent completion level.

The minister gave the current position on the runway on Tuesday after he inspected the level of work done thusfar on the N5.8bn worth contract awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria, Plc.

The minister also reiterated that the work was being executed on schedule and the airport will be opened on 19th April 2017 to commercial traffic.

“We’ve got about a week to the due date for opening so we are on schedule” he assured. “You could see that where we are now is runway 22. ‎Remember the work started from runway 04 and ended at runway 22.

“You could see that we have finished asphalting and we are at 96 percent completion level of the runway. What remains is a part of the airfield lighting and the markings which are being done simultaneously”, he told journalists.

He also noted that the runway had some undulated surfaces but had been fixed near even level.

“Also the camber for it to drain out rains has been improved upon so the runway won’t be retaining water as it where in the past” he said.

It could be recalled that the Abuja airport was closed to traffic on March 8 2017 for the runway repairs because the runway had completely failed and constituted safety risks to aircraft and passengers.