Chinedu Eze
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it has acquired transformers and other equipment to rehabilitate and upgrade power equipment at the Murtala Muhammed Intertional Airport (MMIA).
This it said was aimed at putting an end to the intermittent power disruptions at the airport.
The agency attributed the incessant power outage in the last three weeks to the construction work going on at the new international terminal of the airport.
It explained that electric cables buried underground that provide power at the airport were inadvertently excavated by construction workers at the location where the new terminal is being built.
The General Manager, Public Affairs of (FAAN) Mr. Yakubu Dati, who confirmed the excavation of the cables said that engineers from the agency have been working to move the cables from the construction site and replace those that have been destroyed, noting that this would take a little time before the work is completed.
“Preliminary reports indicate the cause of the outage was the damage of two 11 KVA underground cables located within the construction premises of the new international terminal. Our engineers are urgently rectifying the problem. However, FAAN will relocate these cables out of the construction site to prevent re-occurrence and we crave your indulgence while that is being done. The Authority apologises for the inconvenience caused to airlines, passengers and the general public,” Dati said.
He also said that although power has been restored to the terminal but airport users should expect more power cuts as work continues on the restoration of new cables and upgrade of the power system.
Investigations also revealed that the demand for electricity at the airport has been overstretched due to increased activities and expansion of the terminal and FAAN has acquired 500 KVA transformer and it is in the process of installing the equipment.
“Once we move the cables from the construction site we are sure we would have stable electricity supply at the airport, but to permanently meet the growing demand and in view of the rapid and continuous increase of activities in the near future, we are installing the 500 KVA transformer,” Dati said.
He noted that FAAN doesn’t rely on public power supply because of the hiccups associated with it so the agency has new generators and with the combination of the old ones, the Authority has been providing electricity to both the international terminal and the General Aviation Terminal (GAT).
Dati also disclosed that FAAN would replace all the old underground cables, which were installed when the airport was built almost 40 years ago.
“When you bury something for that long time they need to be replaced and that is what we are doing. I have to add however that the few times we have power outage in the past was due to vandalisation of our cables and equipment, but this has significantly reduced due to improvement of surveillance by our security operational team”, Dati said.
