Fashola on alternative airport: It’s easier to connect Kaduna from Abuja by road

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, says the decision of the federal executive council to favour Kaduna airport over Minna airport is due to the ease or otherwise of connecting roads.

Fashola explained that given the current conditions of both roads, the Kaduna-Abuja highway currently lends itself more to the kind of emergency intervention to restore it to motorability within the short time assigned for the completion of the rehabilitation.

“While the road distance from Minna to Abuja is about 156 kilometres and Kaduna to Abuja is about 186 kilometres (a difference of 30 kilometres or thereabouts), I have driven on both roads recently and the Kaduna-Abuja road is in much better condition than Minna-Abuja, and lends itself more quickly to the implementation of this kind of emergency repairs,” Fashola said.

The minister, who reiterated that his ministry came into the matter in a complementary and supportive role, also added that the Abuja-Minna road is also currently under procurement.

He explained that though the contractor was having difficulty with his financing, the issues would eventually be resolved and the road fixed.

The minister also disclosed that in anticipation that Kaduna Airport would be the alternative airport, his ministry utilized the provisions of the emergency provisions of the Public Procurement Act to seek and obtain the approval of the Bureau of Public Procurement for the emergency rehabilitation of the bad sections of the Kaduna-Abuja highway at a cost of N1.058 billion.

He said although the contractor, Messrs CGC Nigeria Limited, had moved to site since January 7, 2017 and had proposed that it would be finished in 50 days, ending thereabouts on the 28th of February from the work plan that they have submitted to the ministry, they had not yet been paid.

“They have moved men and materials to site and this is the consequence of the confidence that has begun to come back to the construction industry since the implementation of the 2016 Budget that you passed,” he said.

Also acknowledging the inconveniences that Nigerian will experience during the period, Fashola advised that “this is also perhaps a time for us to adapt so that we can be safe”.

He called on airport users to alter some of their pre-scheduled programmes ahead of the closure or until after the closure, adding that they could also employ available technology such as skype or e-mail, SMS and teleconferencing.