The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Mrs. Binta Bello, has promised that the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), which is building a new terminal at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, will complete the project on schedule.
Speaking during an inspection of projects at the aiport, Mrs Bello said despite the slow pace of work on the terminal and others, they would be completed on time.
She said: “The project manager at MAKIA has assured me that he will hand over the job in March next year. They will finish it; they have all the materials. If they, who are doing the work, say they will deliver by March, you have no cause to doubt them.
“The only place where we had challenges was Lagos. They had the initial challenge of site. And when they overcame the challenge, they mobilised to site and work is in progress; at other sites, there have been no problems.”
China’s Exim Bank is funding the construction of the aiport terminals in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano at $500 million.
Meanwhile, indigenous contractors handling the projects at the Lagos, Kano, and Port Harcourt airports have stopped work due to lack of funds.
Among the project sites the permanent secretary and her entourage visited, only a handful of artisans were seen idling away while their bosses were not in.
Patmoz Nigeria Limited, which is building the Kano airport’s fire station, stopped work, saying it had exhausted its mobilisation fee.
It was gathered that the contractor received payment for the work in October, last year.
Similarly, Jameck West Africa, which constructs the general aviation terminal, said the project which is about 60 per cent completed, had been suspended due to non-availability of funds.
Mrs Bello assured that the contractors would be mobilised to sites when funds are available.
“As soon as we are able to mobilise funds, we will call them back to sites. They said they have not been paid; we will look at it and once funds are available, we will pay them,” she said.
Last week, the Ministry of Aviation said inadequate funds were stalling modelling at the international wings of the Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt airports.
The projects include the Lagos Airport Power Contract, Protocol Lounge and landscaping , Construction of departure and arrival halls at Port Harcourt Airport and others.
The projects are part of the remodelling contracts awarded by the last administration.
The contractor: Messrs Mantrac Nigeria Limited handling the Lagos Airport Power Project has vowed not to return to site until the government reimburses it for the work done so far.
At the power house of the Lagos Airport issues on gaps in funding arose, following complaints by the contractor: Messrs Mantrac Nigeria Limited, which suspended work on the airport Power Project Contract,” because it was being owed huge sums.
An official of the company said due to paucity of funds, some generating plants were not working at the Lagos airport.
The firm insisted that until the funds it channelled into the contract is repaid, it would not return to site.
At the new protocol lounge near the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) at the Lagos airport, where about 80 per cent of the work had been done, Mrs Bello was told that the contractor was also being owed leading to the suspension of work.
The officials of the contracting form dos not disclose the cost of the contract and how much the firm is owed.
Besides, the permanent secretary was informed that the contractor had suspended work until further payment was made contract for the landscaping of the surrounding was yet to be awarded.
At Port Harcourt International Airport , the contractor handling the construction of the departure and arrival halls of the airport, Messrs Inter Bau Construction Ltd said work on phase 1 (departure) was between 80-90 per cent completion while work on phase 2 (arrival) “is almost nil.”
Chairman of the company, Sir Nath Okechukwu, said in an interview that the second phase of the project was awarded at the cost of N1.7 billion, adding that the last time he received payment for the work was in 2013.
“In phase 1, we have done about 80-90 per cent and phase 2 is almost nil. In phase 1, our money got exhausted; we don’t have money, we have to suspend work. In phase 2, the total sum then was N1.7 billion, but it has gone up though we don’t know how much we are coming up with,’’ he said.
“We hope very soon they will make some payments so that we may go back to work. The owner of the project has just finished inspection. When she gets back to Abuja then we will know what she is coming up with,” he said.
He assured that “if money is made available, we will deliver the project(s) before the current administration marks its first 100 days in office.”
In her remarks , the permanent secretary said her mission was to see the projects to know the stages of completion in relation to money spent on them so far.
On funding of the projects inspected, Bello assured :” we will look at it and as soon as money is available, the contractors will be mobilized to site.”
On the new terminals at the airports and the level of completion, Bello said: “Work is progressing very well.
I am actually happy with what I have seen; I have seen the determination to improve infrastructure at the airports and we are taking what we have seen back to Abuja. I’ve been told they had some challenges during the take off of the projects.
They have overcome most of them and they are working very hard to close the gaps created by man hours lost. I am satisfied with the work done so far; if they didn’t have initial challenges they would have gone further than where they are,” she said.
