Enugu Reps caucus backs concession of state airport

The Enugu State caucus successful the House of Representatives has pledged its enactment for the Federal Government’s program to concession the AkanuIbiam International Airport, Enugu, describing it arsenic a imaginable catalyst for the South-East economy.

The caucus commended the Federal Government for the initiative, urging it to hasten the concession process to alteration the radical of the portion and the federation to payment from it successful earnest.

It arsenic called connected the radical of the portion to enactment the concessions arsenic the lone mode to warrant sustainable concern to afloat make the airdrome into a genuinely planetary facility.

The caucus made its presumption known successful a connection signed and issued yesterday by the caucus leader, Nnolim Nnaji, arsenic good arsenic Martins Oke, Dennis Agbo, AnayoOnwuegbu, Chimaobi Atu, Sunday Umeha, Paul Nnamchi, and Mark Obetta, representing each 8 national constituencies successful Enugu State.

The caucus said: “Due to mediocre superior investment, the AkanuIbiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, remains partially completed and, indeed, an planetary airdrome lone successful sanction since it was designated implicit 2 decades agone by the Federal Government. Critical components specified arsenic the cargo terminal, the runway, and the planetary terminal, among others, are either non-existent oregon necessitate completion oregon upgrade.

“Businesses and the radical of the South-East, especially, person borne the brunt of these inadequacies, which manifest successful the paucity of planetary flights and intermittent closure of the airdrome for repair, arsenic precocious witnessed.

“Therefore, we judge that the concession of the airport, arsenic presently being processed by the Federal Government, is the lone realistic attack to attracting capable resources to physique the requisite infrastructure and grow existing ones to spot AIIA successful the league of different planetary airports astir the world.”

The connection explained that concession was not the aforesaid happening arsenic privatisation oregon merchantability of the airport, arsenic being peddled by immoderate persons, but a well-known and tenured Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework, which pulls backstage superior concern into nationalist infrastructure portion the authorities retains ownership and regulatory oregon supervisory authority.