The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has disclosed that it has concluded arrangements to demolish the old international terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, known as Terminal 1 and erect a new structure in 22 months.
The federal government had in August last year, earmarked N712. 26 billion, for the rehabilitation of the old terminal, which started operation in 1979 with passenger capacity of 250,000 per annum.
The Director of Airport Operations, FAAN, Captain Abdullahi Zubeir Mahmood, who stated this in exclusive interview with THISDAY said a recent inferno that touched a section of the facility has made the rebuilding of the terminal more urgent.
According to him, the federal government is poised to start the transformation of the facility immediately.
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"Just like exactly what the minister said when he addressed journalists on Tuesday. We already have a plan to rehabilitate the terminal. And the plan is for the concessionaires (providing various services at the facility) to move out probably in the next two to three weeks. That is our target plan for them to move out.
"But with this fire now, nobody is going to stay in that building again, in few days the terminal will be emptied and it will be ripped off. The fire has led to accelerated work on the structure. It has given us acceleration time. What we want to do is just to move the equipment that are there to the temporary terminal," Mahmood explained.
Mahmood added, "At least you have seen what the temporary terminal looks like. And there are four airlines that are going to use the temporary terminal. The four airlines will use the terminal for departure. But the good thing about it is because we have already moved all our arrivals to Terminal 2 before even the fire; we have started gradually moving, pushing our operation to Terminal 2. Since we know that the Terminal 1 is going to be rehabilitated."
There are indications that the budget initially earmarked for the rebuilding of the terminal would be tinkered because more has to be done after the damage on the facility as a result of the inferno.
Mahmood said that with the fire that gutted the terminal, some other issues would come to question which include the integrity of the structure.
"We still maintain the initial budget for now; but definitely, because of this fire, we cannot say. I am not going to say whether the budget will increase or not but we have to take cognizance of the fact that now, there is fire. So, naturally, they have to do an integrity test on the structure. But we are hoping nothing serious will happen to the structure. We are hoping nothing is going to change," he said.
One of the challenges faced by FAAN is passenger traffic management because the new terminal has limited capacity compared to the old terminal.
The new terminal became fully operational when the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, directed that all international airlines should relocate to the new facility on October 1, 2023. Since then, FAAN has been working on the new structure to add more facilities for easy passenger facilitation.
Because of the limited capacity, rebuilding the old terminal has become inevitable in order to accommodate the surging growth of passenger traffic, as more Nigerians travel to international destinations.
"The capacity of the first terminal had been overstretched. That was what called for the need for additional terminal. The old terminal was built for a capacity of 250, 000 per annum and later it was servicing four million passengers. So, what do you expect?
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"The facility was over-utilised. And there was no provision for expansion. That was why Terminal 2 was built. But the good thing is, we have moved to terminal 2. We are also moving to the temporary terminal. The two facilities will be able to accommodate our operations. So, by the time the old terminal is rebuilt in 22 months, people are going to move back there. So, it is going to reduce the pressure," Mahmood further said.
He also explained that FAAN envisaged there would be so many activities at the airport and the movement of passengers and other airport users would be disrupted but the agency pre-emptively set out structural plans to overcome the challenges.
He commended air traffic controllers who, despite the trauma caused by the fire, continued to work with unusual dedication. Mahmood also disclosed that the Mobile Tower was going to be installed in a very elevated location to enable controllers see the whole airport.
