The Minister for Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has defended criticism over the proposed N712 billion renovation of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

He said that it is necessary to modernise the country’s busiest airport, accommodate surging passenger traffic, and meet international standards.

Keyamo emphasised that the approval for the complete rehabilitation, upgrade and modernisation of International Terminal One at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos would be done without foreign or local loans.

Giving details of the project in a statement, the Minister said, “To further enunciate our plans for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMI) in Lagos, let me clarify the approval we secured from the Federal Executive Council Meeting last week.

“There are two international terminals in Lagos. Terminal One is that old building directly facing the long stretch of road leading to the airport, built & commissioned in 1979 by the Obasanjo-led Military regime. It has two wings, WING D and WING E. Terminal 2 is the new building on the right-hand side as you drive into the airport, started by President Jonathan’s government.  The project was completed during President Buhari’s govt with a Chinese loan, & made operational during President Tinubu’s first month in office.

“Due to years of neglect and because the traffic over time quadrupled beyond its capacity, the building & facilities at Terminal One became decrepit. We have been engaged in some patch jobs over the years just to make it a bit presentable. Now, shorn of all the rhetoric, what we simply want to do is to strip down that building, including the entire roof (leaving only the carcass), then re-design/reconfigure it and build a brand-new airport for the nation to meet modern, international standards that can also cater for the increased traffic. Both wings D and E would be affected.”

“As for the new Terminal (Two), we got approval to expand the building and the Apron (where aircraft park for boarding and disembarkation) to accommodate more aircraft, including wide-body aircraft. That is not all; we are constructing two new independent ring roads in and out of the airport (one for departure and one for arrival) and a bridge that will take travellers directly to the upper floor of Terminal Two Departure lounge, instead of lifting our luggage on the escalators when we are departing. It is a design error we intend to correct.

“We have also introduced smart solutions to the new designs to deliver a smart airport to Nigerians that can compete with any airport worldwide. In all, Nigerians will be proud of what we are going to deliver. And take note: this will not be done by a loan from anywhere but by the Renewed Hope infrastructure Development Fund, which is one of the gains made from removing subsidies.

“As the work progresses, we will invite the press, civil society groups, members of the National Assembly and interested Nigerians on regular tours of the facility to monitor the extent and quality of work. It is part of our national heritage; we should all be interested in the outcome.

“I will also encourage our compatriots to simply Google the cost of the most modern airports built worldwide in the last few years (including those in Africa, like Angola, etc.). You will agree with me that the Bureau for Public Procurement, which scrutinised and fixed the final cost of this project, did a fantastic job for the nation.

“And as a final word, telling Nigerians that we also have brand new Terminals in Kano, Abuja & Port-Harcourt is important. However, they are all underutilised due to the traffic that is less than thirty per cent of their capacities.”