Enugu Reps Caucus Backs Concessioning Of Enugu Airport
The Enugu State Caucus in the House of Representatives has backed the federal government’s plan to concession the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
According to the lawmakers, the concessioning has the potential to grow the economy of the South-East Region in general.
The caucus also called on the people of the region to support the concessioning as the only way to guarantee sustainable investments to fully develop the airport into a truly international facility.
The lawmakers’ position is contained in a statement issued on Monday, which was signed by their leader, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji. Other signatories to the statement are Hon. Martins Oke, Hon. Dennis Agbo, Hon. Anayo Onwuegbu, Hon. Chimaobi Atu, Hon. Sunday Umeha, Hon. Paul Nnamchi, and Hon. Mark Obetta.
The statement read in part, “Due to poor capital investments, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, remains partially completed and indeed an international airport only in name over two decades since it was designated as such by the federal government.
“Critical components such as cargo terminals, runways and international terminals are either non-existent or require completion or upgrades.
“Businesses and the people of the South East, especially, have borne the brunt of these inadequacies, which manifest in the paucity of international flights and intermittent closure of the airport for repair of the runway, as recently witnessed.”
The caucus resolved that the concessioning of the airport, as currently being processed by the federal government, “is the only realistic approach to attracting adequate resources to build the requisite infrastructure and expand existing ones to place the airport in the league of other international airports around the world”.
The statement also clarified that concessioning is different from privatisation as being peddled by some persons, noting that “concessioning is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework, which pulls private capital investments into public infrastructure while the government retains ownership and regulatory or supervisory authority.”
The caucus called on the federal government to hasten the process for the people of the South-East region in particular and Nigeria in general to start benefiting from the possibilities and blessings it holds.”
They expressed faith in the federal government through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to entrust the Enugu airport to a concessionaire with the financial and technical prowess, strong international pedigree and reputation, as well as an antecedent of verifiable successes to actualise the target.
Enugu Reps Caucus Backs Concessioning Of Enugu Airport is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
