Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta on Thursday said that the actual value of the Asaba International Airport was N27.7 billion.

The governor gave the figure during an interactive session with newsmen in Asaba. He said the amount included the N7 billion spent on pulling down hills and trees which were obstructing landing of big aircraft.

Uduaghan said the airport contract forced him to make explanations to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), based on petitions to the agency on the issue.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many figures had been quoted as the actual value of the contract. They range from N17 billion to N40 billion quoted at various times by some state government officials, critical groups and individuals.

"Yes, some people wrote petition about the cost of the airport and the people are from Delta.

"The petitions had to do with the hills around the airport.

"The contract value of the airport is N27.7 billion and it is still the cheapest and the best airport built by any state government in this country so far.

"The contract for the hill was part of the original contract.

"What actually happened was that when we realised that the contractor handling the project was delaying in some aspects of the job, we had to engage other contractors specifically to pull down the hills and the trees around the airport.