World Bank to upgrade Nigeria's airports with $10m
By Wole Shadare
THE World Bank is to upgrade safety equipment at the nation's airports with $10 million.
The bulk of the money, according to sources in the Ministry of Aviation, will be used to address infrastructure decay and navigational aids at the major airports.
The upgrade of the airports will be carried out directly under the supervision of World Bank officials.
Already, a Nigerian consultant has been appointed to manage the advertisement for bidders for the execution of the projects.
The project when completed, will help to provide basic necessities at the four major airports in the country, which have suffered near-neglect, and whose facilities are obsolete.
The airports are Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano and the Port Harcourt International Airport.
The World Bank had last October released a $46.6million International Development Association (IDA) credit for the country under the West and Central Africa Air Transport Safety and Security project.
The first stage of the programme had earlier been approved by the global financial institution's board in April 2006 for activities in Burkina Faso , Cameroon , Guinea and Mali .
However, at the request of the Nigerian government, the World Bank initiated this second phase which is to help Nigeria address serious lapses in aviation security and safety, following the three devastating plane crashes that ravaged the country in 2005 and 2006.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) were the four agencies that benefited from the $46.6 million released last October.
A breakdown of the loan facility shows that the FAAN got the highest amount of $13.06 million, followed by the NCAA, which got $9.3 million.
The NCAT received $8.7 million, while NAMA got $7.99 million.
Estimated implementation period of the projects, according to a source in the aviation industry, is between this month and June 2011. The project development objectives include improving the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) safety standards.
