By Okon Bassey
At least one million passengers would be process through the world class terminal building at the Victor Attah International Airport within a year.
The State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Okpolupum Etteh, gave the projection recently, while conducting journalists to showcase the progress work at the airport.
The all-automated international terminal airport building billed for completion in 2022, was designed after Istanbul’s latest airport terminal in Turkey.
Etteh, said the state government was comfortable with the speed of work being delivered.
The commissioner disclosed that the terminal building is both for domestic and International flights, and provision made for further expansion.
“If not for COVID-19, we were looking at completing this project by December this year but now, we are looking at the middle of next year, there is nothing we can do. Even the roofing sheets, we are still expecting them from Turkey.
“But so far, so good we are very okay, but you know, even when you finish, you still need one or two months to test run all the electrical facilities before handing over.
“But there are some few things that we have here in the terminal that they don’t have at the terminal in Istanbul, Turkey.
“Virtually everything here is going to be automated, even the lifts, the escalators, which is what makes this building a smart building.
“This terminal is designed to process a minimum of one million passengers a year. It has a sitting capacity of 1,000.
“The building is divided into two, one way is domestic, and the other way is International. We have Immigration, we have customs, we have duty free shops, everything you have in an international airport,” he stressed.
The Commissioner said the airport would translate to a hub for aviation operations in the region, with the completion of the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) section amongst other ongoing projects.
According to him, the airport would soon begin the operations of International flights within the sub-region, once the aircrafts purchased for arrives the state.
“This building is not only for domestic operations, we are looking at it becoming a regional hub, so there is going to be a lot of employment here, and there will be a lot of revenue for the Akwa Ibom State Government.
“We have so many projects around here. We are also working on the inside of the MRO for the completion of the MRO.
“Aviation is one investment that will bring so much investment and revenue to the state.”
