N27.9bn Total Radar Coverage facility grounded by lack of spare parts—NAMA
The managing director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Capt. Fola Akinkuotu has revealed that defaults in terms of agreement in periodic supplies of spare parts by Thames Group of France has stalled the routine maintenance of the N27.9 billion Total Radar Coverage (TRACON) infrastructure installed in several airports across Nigeria.
Business Hilights recalls that the TRACON project, which was initiated in 2003, was completed in 2010 with 66,500,870 euros (about N27.9 billion) paid by Federal Government but the French company has reneged on its part of the supply understanding.
Explaining issues at a recent stakeholders meeting, the director of Safety Electronics and Engineering Services, Engr. Farouk Umar, said that all efforts to source spares from the manufacturer for the replacement of bad ones proved abortive due to funding crisis.
The aviation strategic facility had been in operation in the last eight years, but is now under-serving its purpose due to lack of necessary repairs and associated upgrades.
He said the infrastructure is being serially starved of spare parts supplies, contrary to agreements signed with the manufacturer, Thales of France in 2010.
While decrying that TRACON had been technically out of service since 2014, four years after the project came on stream, Umar averred that NAMA had been operating the equipment without spares, adding that the facility had been long overdue system upgrade.
He noted that the best option now is for the federal government to take it up from the ministerial level and prevail on Thales to adhere to the terms of contract with Nigeria.
Earlier in his keynote address, NAMA boss, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu said as part of drive to deepen air safety and radio communications between pilots and control towers within the country’s airspace, the agency has installed Very High Frequency (VHF) radios across 17 airports in Nigeria.
Benefitting airports include Owerri, Enugu, Kaduna, Ibadan, Katsina, Sokoto, Maiduguri and Akure.
Others are Asaba, Dutse, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe and Calabar airports where the systems had been installed for seamless air navigation.
