Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has said that the State Government would soon recoup all expenses spent on the state’s Agro Cargo Airport, as various international aviation companies jostle for concessional operations.
The airport, which was located along Iperu-Ilishan road in Ikenne Local Government area of the State was conceptualized as an aerotropolis based on its strategic location, being contiguous to the nation’s commercial capital of Lagos State.
The governor, who inspected the airport at the weekend, revealed that commercial flights would begin operations at the airport before the end of the year, adding that the concessioning of the facility would be done in the next 45 days as the State would recoup money expended on the facility.
He said, “I’m sure that in the next 30 to 45 days, we should sign the dotted lines of the concessioning of this airport, which would mean that everything the airport has cost us would completely be repay back to us and we can use the money to pay our debt and also begin to look at other projects.”
The governor also said that the airport would be granted approval to commence commercial operations by the end of 2023, which will see both local and international flights landing at the airport.
“This airport, sometime by the end of November, December would be fully granted approval. Commercial operations would start here. It means that you can board a flight to Abuja, Port Harcourt and I am sure that by the end of the year, you will begin to see international flights leave wherever and land in this airport by the grace of God”, Abiodun said.
Meanwhile, about 200 units of semi-detached, detached, fully detached duplexes and terraces under construction at the Muhammadu Buhari Estate in Abeokuta are at advanced stages of completion and will be delivered before the end of the year.
Speaking on the housing project, Governor Abiodun said that his government was working towards the provision of affordable houses to all strata of society, noting that some of the buildings under construction had been fully paid for, while part payments had been made for others as contractors would to step up work to meeting the completion dateline.
