The Minister of state for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says the runway of Nnamdi
Azikwe International Airport, Abuja which is currently undergoing
repairs, is 95 percent complete. Runway 04 to runway 022 of the airport was closed for repairs on March
8th and is expected to be open on April 19th. The runway which is being
repaired by Julius Berger will cost N5.8 billion.
Speaking on a radio programme, tagged: ‘Political platform’ in Abuja yesterday, Sirika said
“We are now about 95 per cent completion of the Abuja Airport runway. We
are finishing the laying of asphalt today. We had about two days of
rain, which disturbed the ongoing work. But we are working and we are
going to get to the due date, which is on April 19, 2017, God willing.
Other works like the lightening, markings among others have been going
on simultaneously. There is a new technology, where glass glide is put
in the process of constructing the runway to reinforce it, to give it
extra strength and prevent cracks and that is what we have done at the
Abuja airport runway. This is the first time any Nigerian runway is
being treated with such material and that material is a 50 tonner. We
had to fly it in to Nigeria to ensure that it comes in time for this job
and you have seen samples of it. I am very happy and I thank Nigerians
for bearing with us and also thank President Muhammadu Buhari for
believing in us that we can do it and he gave us the trust to do it.”he
said.
