Kano Airport Contractor Gets 60-day Ultimatum

The contractor handling the construction of the control tower of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano has been given 60-day ultimatum to complete the work.

Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Richard Aisuebeogun, who said the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi handed down the ultimatum noted that the new control tower would be in place before the commencement of the 2011 Hajj operations in October.

But the contractor had given the assurance that all works at the site would not exceed the end of August.

Aisuebeogun said: “This project is of utmost concern to us because it is the first indigenous control tower to be completed by an indigenous company after 25 years of the last constructed control tower in Abuja.

According to him, though the contract was awarded in August 2009, it has taken some time because it execution has been in stages, pointing out that these are some of the things they had been contending with.

“For instance, the control tower cabin takes an average of six months to be manufactured at the workshops in the United Kingdom. Then the contractor goes for factory inspection and acceptance test. It is after that the items are dismantled and package for onward delivery, which takes at least one month to arrive at our airports”, he explained.

He added: “this is now transported to the destination of its installation. The manufacturer then gives a date after arrival at the site to the contractor when installation would start”.

The FAAN boss noted that installation takes an average of eight weeks under a conducive weather condition, stating that management had already paid over 90 per cent of the sum to the contractor.

Aisuebeogum disclosed that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has begun the installation of its necessary equipment at the project site and assured that the new control tower will be ready this month.

Shedie Okpara