$69.1m counterpart fund stalls Lagos, Abuja, Kano airport terminals

The completion of new airport terminals projects in Lagos, Abuja and Kano has been stalled by $69.15m counterpart funding, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has disclosed.

The Federal Government, under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, had embarked on four airport terminals projects one each in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt through a concessionary loan from the China Exim Bank.

The projects, which commenced in 2014, were to be delivered in two years, it was learnt.

While the China Exim Bank provided $500m, the Federal Government paid a counterpart funding of $100m.

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated one of the terminals at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) at Omagwa, Rivers State.

Though the three other terminals have reached advanced stages of completion, the projects still require additional funding estimated at $461m for full completion.

The terminal at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja is expected to gulp a large chunk of the fund following a foundational defect discovered by the present administration.

Explaining the status of the project, Sirika, in his speech last week, said, “At the time this administration came on board, the level of work was below 30% and bedeviled with various technical challenges which included foundation design change, inaccessibility to apron, inadequate apron, space masterplan distortion, water and sewage provision, litigation and inadequate power supply to mention a few.