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Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe
The massive upgrade of the Asaba International Airport is certainly one of the enviable projects of this administration headed by His Excellency Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa.
Its runway has been re-excavated to level the hills to international standard so as to enhance smooth landing and takeoff at the 3.4 km runway and 1.5km taxi-way.
The airport was downgraded by the Ministry of Aviation through its supervisory agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) allowing only DASH 8Q 300-400 light aircraft to fly in the airport.
The project entai the s physical, structural and aircraft upgrades such that new and old runways meet required standards. Standard Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) are being procured and installed for smooth and safe landing at night and during bad weather conditions.
The ILS is a powerful navigation instrument that enhances visibility and greatly assists the captain and his co-pilot to land heavy duty passenger and cargo aircrafts without much difficulty during extremely bad weather conditions and at night.
Gov Okowa recently told newsmen while inspecting the airport that his administration is aware of the importance of airsafty which is why the upgrade construction must be done to achieve best global standards.
Upon completion, the Asaba International airport is expected to serve the South-South, South-East and the state as a major aviation hub for holiday makers, business people and cargo air freight.
Major importers in the South-East axis of the commercial cities of NNEWI and ONITSHA can directly fly into Asaba to reduce cost of land transportation of imported goods and equipment from M/M International airport Lagos to the South-East.
Upon completion of update construction and installation of world standard ILS and other navigation equipment, the Asaba Airport will provide thousands of jobs for skilled and unskilled persons as ground staff to major domestic and international airlines that will commence both scheduled and non-scheduled flights operations into the airport.
It follows that traders and corporate food vendors within the airport, in Asaba city as well as hotels providing holiday packages will experience increase in patronage and annual turnover as operation is estimated to hit all te of 3,000,0000 passengers within the 12 months of commencement of full operation.
Gov Okowa recently told newsmen while inspecting ongoing construction work at the Asaba International airport that his administration places high premium on air safety hence special attention is devoted to ensure that the upgrade meets specific global standards that will rank the airport as one of the best in the world in terms of runway, taxiway, Instrument Landing Instruments and other world class navigation equipment.
Jobs will also be created in the transportation sector as more airport taxi operations will be engaged as well as haulage of goods and imported equipment from Asaba International airport to various parts of South-South and South-East in line with Gov Okowa administration prosperity for All Deltans mantra.
At the moment, two domestic airlines; Aero Contractors and Arik Air operates the DASH Q8 300-400 series into Asaba International airport daily. It is hoped that other domestic and international airlines will commence daily scheduled operations into and out of the airport.
This is the Smart Government that Deltans voted for in 2015 and it’s working
