The Cross River Government has disclosed that the Obudu Cargo Airport being constructed by the state will be ready for operation by April 2024.

This was disclosed by the state Commissioner for Aviation, Eno Inah, during inspection of the project on Tuesday. He said though the contractor had given 120 days for its completion, he would want to make it 180 days from today (Tuesday) for the completion.

Inah said that contrary to claim that the airport project had been abandoned by the current administration, work was progressing well on the project. He noted that the Gov. Bassey Otu-led administration was desirous to see to the timely completion of the project.

According to him, “We are here to assure Cross River people that like the governor has said in most of his statements, no project will be abandoned.“In matching words with action, construction is ongoing at the Cargo Airport.

“I am optimistic that God on our side in 180 days, we should be talking of inauguration, going by what we have seen.“You can see that the various structures at the airport are at various stages of completion.

“The contractor has given his word that the Cargo Airport project will be completed in the next 120 days. As a responsible government, I put it at 180, to ensure that everything is done before commissioning.”

Inah said that the people and ultimately the state, would be the greatest beneficiaries of the project. He explained that not only would the airport improve the economic livelihood of the people around the project, it would also boost the tourism potentials of the state due to its proximity to the Obudu Ranch.

Meanwhile, the Project Manager, Shola Okeleye, said they were working to ensure that the project was delivered timely and according o standard.

Giving a breakdown of the completion stage of various structures of the project, Okeleye said, “the tower is 85% completed while the terminal building is about 75%.

“The runway and taxi way are 85 and 80% completed respectively.

“From the level of work done so far, we are optimistic that the project will be delivered in 120 days time.”The immediate past administration of the state inaugurated the construction of the project in March 2021.