The Minister who disclosed this while inspecting the run-way said the run-way which was constructed in 1982 was designed to last only 20 years, but unfortunately in the last 14 years no particular repairs has being done, leading to the failure of most part of the run-way.
Sirika disclosed that hither to the interim repairs carried out as a short term solution, the length of the runway had to be reduced from 3.62 to 3.2, which meant that certain air planes that required longer runways could not land in Abuja.
He said: “FAAN responded and portions of the runway have been repaired but this cannot solve the long term problem. The federal government approved immediate funds for immediate repair to be carried out. We have been to the Bureau of Public Enterprise to short circuit the process and we have invited local contractors to bid for the repairs”
He listed some of the contractors to include CCECC, Julius Berger, Dantata and Sawoe, CRCC and Reynolds to restore the runway to a good degree.
Senator Sirika however declined to put a figure on the cost of the contract, stating that discussions was still ongoing with the Ministry of Finance and “the contractors would also have to come up with their own quotation before we can say how much it will cost”.
The Minister pointed out that in the face of dwindling revenue and increasing social challenges requiring government attention, it was impossible for government to take care of the airport, hence the move by the government to concession all the federal airport, starting with, Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano airports through Private Public Partnership (PPA).
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