Asaba airport of ‘controversy’

By Dominic Adewole

The recent development over the budding Asaba International Airport has justified the popular saying that “not all that glitter is gold.”
When in February 3, 2008, barely a year after the immediate past Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, assumed office, the airport was conceived and awarded to a wholly indigenous civil engineering construction company – Messrs ULO Consultants Limited, the ‘prosperity for all Deltans’ mantra of the incumbent Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, was the target.

The ground-breaking ceremony was performed by the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, and the project was billed for N6.8 billion. But before Uduaghan left office, seven years after, over N27 billion had been expended.

Besides the N6.8 billion at conception, another N7.4 billion was approved to demolish hills and valleys around the airport site by the former governor, just as another N13.5 billion was spent on equipping, furnishing and other additional cost implication before local flight took effect in the airport.

Then Uduaghan’s Commissioner for Economic Planning, Kenneth Okpara, who spoke on the outcome of the state’s Executive Council meeting in Asaba on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, said the contract for the demolition was awarded to a firm at the sum of N7.4 billion, without additional cost implication.

“The hills and the valleys will be demolished before the South-South Economic Summit billed for April 26 to 28 in Asaba, to allow for bigger aircraft, so that President Goodluck Jonathan can land at the airport”, Okpara said.

But 10 years after, the 50,000 square meters concrete apron, 2,000 car parking lot, terminal building of approximately 15,000 square meters, eight floor control tower that was well equipped with state-of-the-art consoles and other equipment, including the 2,000 meter long taxiways, blast pads at both runway ends, fire stations, service roads, perimeter fence, and what have you, of the airport remain in limbo.

The 3.4km length and 60m wide runways, finished with asphaltic concrete with a design capacity to handle wide-bodied aircraft up to the range of Boeing 747, when fully operational, was still a ruse, after officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Engr. Akeem Ogunnola, on Friday, June 3, 2015, led a six-man engineering crew from the Nigerian Airports Management Authority (NAMA), to inspect the airport.

Although, Delta State Government has gone far on the airport project, NCAA after its investigations on April 27, 2015, saw reasons to downgrade the airport over issues, ranging from inadequate training of technical staff, shoddy work on perimeter fencing, flooding and uneven surface of the runway and other technical issues.

By implication, only Dash 8–Q 400 planes or their equivalent should operate at the airport until the issues raised were resolved while all Boeing 737s and jets of similar category were barred.

The downgrade also led to sack and immediate withdrawal of some workers at the airport.
Although, the state government on May 6, 2015, in a statement, claimed that the state was doing its best on the project execution, four persons, working with Nacho, a Lagos-based aviation Engineering Company, were sacked by their employer after Boeing aircrafts stopped plying the airport route.
It was also found out that an MTN mast that was erected around the airport was jamming with the radar of the airport.

Yet, the state was yet to recover from the jamming issue when an alleged N10 billion debts tore the governor and the contractor, handling the project, Chief Uche Okpunor, apart.

Then, the contractor, who described the debts as “unfortunate”, lamented the failure of the state government to meet its contractual obligations, which triggered one Chief Festus Okoh, a sub-contractor, three days after the outburst to lead 30 other sub-contractors to barricade the main-gate to the airport, pending when their debts were paid.

Okpunor, who was embarrassed by the sub-contractors’ protest, said: “I could have done worst thing than you people, but two wrongs can’t make a right. If not that I’m from Asaba, I would have since stopped commercial activities in the airport. It is unfortunate that those working under the governor are diverting the money. That we are not meeting our financial obligations today is unfortunate.

“The state government is owing ULO over N10 billion. Last week, government issued a cheque to ULO that did not go through. It is an unfortunate thing that Delta State is owing contractors. Every supplier who has a bill here will be paid, that I can assure you.”

Prior to when the airport began partial operation on July 18, 2011, criticisms of various degrees had trailed its cost implication.

Members of the opposition parties in the state, especially the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), being sponsored and financed by Chief Great Ogboru, now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, were of the opinion that the project has become a corruption pipe hole for successive PDP administration in the state to siphon money, pointing specifically to the number of years it had taken PDP governors to complete the project, quoting N40 billion as the actual amount that had been spent.

Although, the then Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Comrade Ovuozerie Macaulay, damned Ogboru for completely displaying ignorance, he debunked the allegation and challenged him to face-to-face interview on the subject matter.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who took over the project in 2015 and borrowed N5 billion to upgrade it said that the ongoing work on the first segment [900 metres] would make it to be among the best in the country.

The governor quickly placed the airport on concession and management of 14 companies, including, the BGL Consortium, FBN Capital, Infrasturctural Bank Plc, One Dott Aviation, Rougton International Consortium, Ponclef Associates Limited, Planet Capital Consortium and Enterprise Integratus.

Others are, Halcro Infrastructure Consortium, Deloids, PWC, Rosecross, Ed-field Partners Consortium, Vetiva Capital Management Limited and an Indian firm, called Tankaka.

At the opening of the concession exercise, the Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye, now the Senior Policy Adviser to Okowa, supported by counterpart in Economic Planning, Barr. George Orogun, said only a company with technical capability, quality aviation experience and strong financial base, would be considered.

He said, “I am excited that this event is taking a lead in the state. This is a new Delta State. We have friends who can bid for the concession but because we want the best for the state and the business as usual, we decided to throw the bidding process open for healthy competition.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the contracting firm, Chief Uche Luke Okpunor, blamed the state and it’s Ministry of Works for asserting stringent bureaucratic bottleneck which delayed speedy completion.

When the contractor appeared before the state’s House of Assembly committee on Works that summoned him last week, he listed inconsistent designs, atmospheric conditions, complex terrain and eventual failure of the runway as the bane of controversy.

Wole Shadare