September 26, (THEWILL) – The Ebonyi State Government, on Tuesday, said it has approved over N13 billion for the immediate rehabilitation of the Chuba Okadigbo’s International Airport runway.
Recall that the rehabilitation of the airport runway is taking place barely three months after it was constructed and commissioned by the former governor, David Umahi.
The Commissioner of Aviation and Transport Technology, Mrs. Ngozi Obichukwu, made this known while speaking to newsmen at the Chuba Okadigbo Airport, Onueke Ezza South LGA, shortly after the official handover of the runway site to the contractor.
Obichukwu said that the runway rehabilitation, which was awarded to IDC Construction Company, will take a maximum period of eight months to complete.
She vowed to ensure that there was adequate provision of security and protection of the lives and properties of the contractor and his team.
She said: “The runway rehabilitation is awarded to IDC construction company and the contractor is here on ground to ensure that the runway is perfectly put in the right place. You can see that since two months ago, we have not been having flights landing here because the runway wasn’t in the right proper shape.
“The contractor has fulfilled the procurement requirements that we gave them at the bidding opening, assessment and evaluation. The IDC construction company has today met our requirements on the runway design. They will start work next week and the job is expected to be completed in six to eight months so that the full flight operations will start.”
She said that the State Government, led by Governor Francis Nwifuru, has mobilised the contractor by fifty percent to enable him (contractor) to commence work immediately at the runway site and further tasked him to make sure that the project is completed at the specified time.
Responding, the Area Manager of IDC construction company, Engr. Youssef Zghib, said that the concrete used on the Chuba Okadigbo airport runway will be scraped halfway to enable the asphalting to blend.
“The only reason why the flight could not land here is because of the rigidity of the concrete and once the 150mm of combined asphalt is laid, there will be no other excuse for an airline not to land here,” he stated.
Also, the Special Assistants (SA) to the Governor on Airport Security, Nnana Nwangele and Enyi Franklin, said that adequate security was deployed to the airport to ensure that the lives and properties of the contractor and its workers are protected.
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
