Abia state Governor,Dr Alex Otti says that his administration will take the lead in ensuring that the ambition for an Abia Airport comes to fruition as soon as possible
Speaking when he received in audience a delegation from the federal Ministry of Aviation led by the Permanent secretary, Dr Emmanuel Meribeole, Governor Otti expressed the desire to see an Abia Airport realised in the next one year.
He disclosed that aside locating land for the project, the land owners have also been reached for discussions timely take off of the project.
“One important thing about airport is also location and so we now zeroed in the place we are looking at the moment. We didn’t just identify the location; we went the extra mile of identifying the owners of the large land because it’s a huge parcel of land. We have already started a meeting with them”. We hope that at least in the next one year, an airport would be standing. We don’t intend to complete everything in one year, but at least once we have the runway and the terminal building, the rest would come from time to time”, Governor Otti assured.
While thanking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for consenting to setting up an Airstrip for the state and for accommodating same in the 2024 budget, Governor Otti also appreciated the Minister of Aviation, Mr Festus Keyamo and his team for being in the same page with him in envisioning an Airport for Abia.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Permanent Secretary, federal Ministry of Aviation, Dr Emmanuel Meribeole while acknowledging the visionary leadership of Governor Alex Otti towards a better Abia, said that they are in the state to ensure that the land approved for the project is in alignment.
He said that part of the delegation are experts from FAAN, AEROSPACE, NEMA, NEIMET among others, noting that they are starting with Airstrip as already approved by the federal government.
Dr Meribeole while acknowledging the fact that an Airport project is capital intensive said that the advantage of having an Airport cannot be overemphasized.
