The House of Representatives yesterday set up a committee to investigate alleged delay in the execution of repair works of the Port Harcourt International Airport, alleging possible sabotage by some airliners. Honourable George Ford Nwosu (PDP) Rivers State while proposing the motion noted that the Airport was closed in August 2006 while repair works was given to construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.
He however said �the execution of the maintenance work has been at snail speed� leading to serious hardship for air travellers especially from the surrounding states of Rivers and Bayelsa.
Nwosu said the closure of the airport has led to loss of revenue to the state government, throwing some youths into the unemployment market, especially those formerly in the employment of the airport operations. Nwosu had alleged that the airliners which has been allowed to fly into the Port Harcourt Air base, including Arik air, Virgin Nigeria and Aero Contractor may be behind the allged delay in the execution of the project to enable them recover cost of building terminals at the airbase.
The committee which is to submit its report in two weeks, is to investigate the cause of delay and whether appropriate funding has been given to the project as provided in both the 2006 and 2007 budget.
Members of the committee are Hon. Anthony Madawatte (Chairman),Hon. Eziuche Ubani, Hon. Eta Enang, Hon. Balla Ibn Nallah, Hon. Claver Ikisikpo, Hon George Nwosu.
Most of those who contributed to the debate on the floor, were critical of the reasons adduced by officials of the Ministry of Aviation to the effect that the delay was caused by security reasons, saying to accept such is to say that the security agencies are not up to their responsibilities. Hon. Igo Agummah one of the proponent of the motion had in his contribution said that there appear to be remote reasons behind the delay saying that all international flights to the airport normally run by Lufthansa (German) and Air France (French) have been cancelled. Panalpina which runs a cargo airliner for oil and gas services firms is also said to have been affected as it has to land in Lagos and then truck cargo to Port Harcourt. Hon. Dino Daniel Melaeye in his contribution urged the House to use the situation at the Port Harcourt airport to look at other non performing federal contract around the country.