Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State says he is committed to the completion of major projects embarked upon for the well being of Akwa Ibom people.
One of the projects, he said, is the completion of a world-class international terminal building and other innovations geared at repositioning Akwa Ibom as an aviation hub in Africa.
The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Special Duties, Okpolupm Etteh gave the assurances, during an inspection visit on work around the project site over the weekend.
He explained that the new international terminal building is designed to meet the highest level of intelligence and smart building standard, and will match any of the internationally ranked airport terminals when completed.
He stated that “The security architecture is very high, there would be fingerprint digital pass or card pass, whether you are a passenger or staff.
“The facility will have four methods of fire prevention – fire extinguishers, fire water sprinkler system, fire detectors (heat, smoke and temperature detectors), FM 200 ie automated fire suppression system,” he said.
Hon Etteh commended Governor Emmanuel’s foresightedness and sincerity, which accounted for the rapid progress of the project despite the pandemic, assuring that the facility would be ready on schedule.
Also speaking, the Project Manager, Onur Uzel, said the terminal building project has three floors and is designed to accommodate over one million passengers per year with a total area of construction of about 30,000 square meters.
He explained that there will be a digital self-check-in by a robot pre-planned before Covid-19 and counter check-in as well with five bridges, staircases, seven lifts and four escalators, which are pressure sensitive and only move when a passenger is detected on it.
He also explained that a special roof that can last up to 200 years without changing its colour, was conceptualized for the project.
Uzel further said the facility comes with an automated system to check bag contents while the departure area will have outlets of an International Airport runway and would also have a sickbay and staff lodge.
The project manager maintained that the facility was designed by experts from Nigeria, the United Kingdom, United States and Turkey.
