•Contractors insist on payment before returning to sites

lack of fund has stalled the completion of airport renovation projects at the international wings of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and the Port Harcourt International Airport , Omagwa,  Rivers State.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Mrs. Binta Bello, said this at the weekend  during  an inspection tour of ongoing projects at the two airports.

The projects include the Lagos Airport Power Contract, Protocol Lounge and Landscaping as well as Construction of Departure and Arrival Halls at Port Harcourt Airport and others.

The projects are parts of the remodeling contracts awarded by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration worth several billions of Naira.

The contractor handling the Lagos Airport Power Project , Messrs Mantrac Nigeria Limited, has vowed not to return to site until the government reimburses the money it so far committed into the contract .

The firm did not reveal the amount the company is owed and the entire cost of the contract. An official of the company said due to  lack of funds , some generating plants were not operating at the Lagos Airport .

The firm insisted that until the fund it put into the contract was reimbursed, it would not return to site.

At the new Protocol Lounge at the Lagos Airport,  where about 80 per cent of work had been completed, the permanent secretary was told that the contractor was also being owed, a situation which led to suspension of work .

The officials of the contracting firm did not disclose the cost of the contract and how much the firm is owed.

Besides, the permanent secretary was  informed that the contractor had suspended work until further payment is made.

At  Port Harcourt International Airport , the contractor handling the construction of the departure and arrival halls, Messrs Inter Bau Construction Ltd, said work on phase 1 (departure) was between 80-90 per cent completion while work on phase 2 (arrival) “is almost nil.”

The company’s chairman, Sir Nath Okechukwu, said in an interview that the second phase of the project was awarded at the cost of N1.7 billion, adding that the last time he received payment for the work was in 2013.

“In phase 1, we have done about 80-90 per cent and phase 2 is almost nil. In phase 1, our money got exhausted. We don’t have money and we have to suspend work.

“In phase 2, the total sum then was N1.7 billion. But it has gone up, though we don’t know how much we are coming up with.

“We hope very soon they will make some payments so that we may go back to work. The owner of the project has just finished inspection. When she gets back to Abuja, then we will know what she is coming up with,” he said.

He assured that “if money is made available, we will deliver the project(s) before the current administration marks its first 100 days in office.”

But the permanent secretary said her mission was to see the projects to know the stages of completion in relation to money spent on them so far.

On funding for the projects inspected, Mrs. Bello assured: “We will look at it and as soon as money is available, the contractors will be mobilised to site.”

On the new terminals at the airports and the level of completion, Bello said: “Work is progressing very well. I am actually happy with what I have seen. I have seen the determination to improve infrastructure at the airports and we are taking what we have seen back to Abuja. I’ve been told they had some challenges during the take-off of the projects.

“They have overcome most of them and they are working very hard to close the gaps created by man-hours lost. I am satisfied with the work done so far. If they didn’t have initial challenges, they would have gone further than where they are,” she said.