I’ll complete Obudu airport in six months – Cross River gov

Governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu, has stated his resolve to complete the Obudu Cargo airport, started by his predecessor, Prof Ben Ayade, in six months.

The governor said this when paid an assessment visit to the airport on Monday.

He expressed happiness at the extent of work done so far, adding that he spent the entire weekend assessing ongoing projects initiated by his predecessor.

He added that visited critical stakeholders in the Cross River northern district.

Otu said, “I am very impressed at the quality and the level of work done here. I think the airport is actually ready to go. As we can see, everything is on the ground. It is just the tarmac, which is at its completion stage.

“The contractors who have been working with regulatory officials from the aviation agencies have assured me that if the necessary support is provided, this place will be running within six months.

“For us, this project is very important because we want this area to start generating wealth for Cross River State. We have the Obudu Ranch Resort, which has been there for decades, and it is time to make it work again.”

According to him, the airport is the main facility that will effectively ensure mobility and traffic to the ranch.

The governor said his assessment showed the work done so far at the airport was superb.

Concerning the Bebi airstrip, Otu said the state government was planning to float an aviation school at the facility to complement its functions.

Responding to the governor, the contractors of the Obudu Cargo Airport, Josiah Samuel said, urged the state government to give the firm the required and promised that it would deliver the project within the contractual time frame.

“From what you can see, a lot has gone into this project. With adequate support from the government, within six months this airport, which is of international standard, will be operational.

“The runway is over three kilometres comparable to any other international airport passenger cargo in Nigeria.

“The control tower is ready. All navigational equipment is in place. For the runway, where we are standing now is the binders course of 60 metres and on top of this, we are to add another 70 metres of wearing course for maximum thickness,” he explained.

He added, “You have airports with two-kilometre runways, but this is 3.2 kilometres in addition to the skipping area. Altogether, we have over five kilometres. What we have here is comparable to any other international cargo/passenger airport.”