By Jennifer Y Omiloli
The federal government has commended governor Ifeanyi Okowa for the quality of facilities at the Asaba International Airport, saying the facilities are of international standards.
Minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika stated this on Sunday, September 1 in Asaba shortly after he inspected facilities at the airport.
The minister noted that the state government has done well in developing the airport to meet international standards especially in the area of upgrade of the runway and other ancillary works.
His words: ‘‘Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is always a very serious minded person, very focused, principled and always committed to doing the right thing, I have been informed how he ensured transparency in the concessioning of the Asaba airport.
‘‘The Asaba airport is strategically located, it is right there at the centre of very many good locations in the country, it is good for business, good for civil aviation, and we are delighted that the Delta state government has taken aviation as one of the catalyst for growth and development and for identifying and also understanding the importance aviation could add to the economy of the region.
‘‘I am here because we believe that the best way to manage our airports is to concession them to private hands to make them better managed and better operated and to get value for our money.
‘‘The Delta state government took up the challenge and they attended to so many conferences with us, they dialogued with us at the ministry and they decided on their own to concession the Asaba airport and here we are after three tedious years, and being fully guided by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission ICRC to put this to reality.
“The Asaba Airport is on its way to being fully concessioned, they have feeder airlines that will operate as well as a principal airline coming in to Asaba and feeding other stations, they have a hotel, business park, cargo and they have everything here an international airport needs to operate and all of these are from the private sector and if it works, this is a classical example of partnership with the private sector to develop our infrastructure for the common good of our people.’’
