Abuja Airport new terminal to begin operation – FAAN

The new terminal under construction at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, will begin operation soon, considering the pace of work going on at the Airport.
Saleh Dunoma, Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday that the major challenges hindering the timely completion of the project had been addressed.
Dunoma, who listed the two major challenges as – inadequate power and water supply capacity to cater for the new terminal, added that there was need to boost their capacities.
He explained that the Federal Government had awarded the contract to boost the power supply into the airport, while the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory had handled the water challenge.
He said: “In terms of power supply, government has graciously awarded the contract that will sort out the power supply.
“The other thing is water supply, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Minister of State for Aviation have discussed and agreed to improve our sewage and water supply system.
“The FCT has the capacity. What it need to do is to extend this facility to the new terminal.
“So those issues have been resolved and what we are waiting for now is the connection between the new terminal building and the train station.
“Once that is done and the upgrade is done, there will be few things that we need to do internally before we can start to use the new terminal building in Abuja.
“So in the next two months, maybe, we will be ready to commence operation there.”
Dunoma also told NAN that other terminal building projects in other airports such as Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kano and Enugu, were at various stages of completion.
Kolawole Akande, the Site Engineer, Chinese Terminal Project, China Civil Engineering and Construction Company, said the remaining works were just final fittings and setting of equipment.
Akande said that facilities needed to run the terminal were already in place, adding that all mechanical services were already on ground.
According to him, all the elevators, escalators, lifts are already installed and tested.
He said: “Our scanners, both body and baggage scanners are already on ground, we have also installed the check-in counters and there are 66 of them.
“We have completed the installation of the conveyor belts. So, what we are basically doing now is the final fittings. We are doing the final checks to ensure that everything is good to go.
“What we have left to be done that is on a bigger scale than normal is the outside civil work, which is ongoing currently to link the airport and parking space.”
The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had in January explained that some foundational deficiencies identified was responsible for the delay in its completion.