Nigeria's government plans to close
the airport in the capital, Abuja, for about six weeks to repair a runway that some
airlines have described as dangerous, an aviation ministry statement said
Monday.
The government plans to close Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, the country's second-busiest, for most of February and
March. Work by German Construction Company Julius Berger would continue after
the airport reopens and is expected to take six months, the ministry said.
During the scheduled closure, flights would be diverted
to Kaduna city, which is 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Abuja on a road
frequented by bandits who sometimes kidnap people for ransom. The government
plans to provide security for buses that will be used to shuttle passengers
from Kaduna's small airport to Abuja.
Kaduna has rail service to Abuja, but the railroad
station is 45 kilometers (28 miles) and a 50-minute drive from the airport.
It's unclear if some flights will need to be canceled.
Kaduna's airport is unlikely to be able to accommodate the traffic that Azikiwe
does. Airline officers go through handwritten lists of passengers and issue
handwritten boarding cards since the airport does not have computers.
At Abuja airport, a South African Airways plane was
damaged on landing in August. In October, Emirates airline stopped flying to
Abuja from its base in Dubai, partly blaming the state of the runway. Other
airlines also have threatened to stop flights to Abuja, saying the runway is
dangerous.
Aviation officials realize the "high level of
discomfort and inconvenience" the closure of one of West Africa's busiest
airports will cause and have a scheduled a meeting Thursday with the people and
businesses most affected in an effort to make the switch to Kaduna
"seamless and hitch-free," the statement said.
Inadequate maintenance of infrastructure ranging from oil
refineries to roads long has been a problem in Nigeria, mainly because of
corruption.
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