The Ogun State cargo airport will be ready for flight operations before the end of this year, 2022. With the runway almost completed, the airport will be ready to receive its first plane before December.
This was revealed to the media by the state Commissioner for Information, Abdulwahab Odusile while taking a group of selected media correspondents on a guided tour of the cargo and passengers airport located in Iperu Remo, Ogun State.
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“By the grace of God, before the end of this year, aircraft will take-off and land on this airport. That will be the first of its kind in the country. This airport would be the fastest built airport in Nigeria,” Odusile said.
In his words, “we started the construction of this airport from the scratch and we started in April 2021. This airport would be an international airport in all ramifications.
The 4km runway is almost ready, the construction of the fire station is on, the control tower and the administrative building is there and those are the essential components of an airport. Every other thing as you know is luxury and comfort.”
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He further said the state Governor , Prince Dapo Abiodun is not just building an airport, “we are building an aerotropolis. We are bringing different people and don’t forget, this is a specialised airport as it will be an agro-cargo airport. Though, there is another facility for passenger operations.”
On the viability of the airport, Odusile said : “Already, some agencies of the government are scrambling to be here and I can tell you for a fact, the Nigeria Air Force is already looking forward to be here, the Nigeria Customs Service and so many other private investors. This will be the only truly agro-cargo airport in Nigeria.”
” There will be an international testing centre here where all agro-produce that go out of Nigeria will come here and be certified as complying with international standard. So, once that is done, goods from here can be exported to anywhere in the world.”
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“All parcels coming into Nigeria would be flown to our airport here before they are now redistributed to any part of Nigeria.You can also see the location of the airport, where we are now is about the centre of Ogun State. The airport on the western side, you will see the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, on the southern side, you have the Sagamu–Benin Expressway, he added.
Speaking about the technical details of the new airport, Ade Akinsanya, Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ogun State said the control tower is about five-storey building.
” It is what is obtainable in the international community. The total width of the runway is 60; 45 plus 75. And another 7.5 shoulders. We have perimeter fencing at the airport from the beginning unlike some of the airports that we have around in Nigeria.”
“In front of the perimeter fencing, you will also have security road on both sides for patrol. We don’t want intruders coming into the airport.”
On the terminal building, Akinsanya said, “It is a kind of a hybrid of what you have in Morocco and a bit of Paris in France. It is a work of art. The same thing also with the control tower – it is something unique,” the Commissioner for Works said.
Culled: From Vanguard.
