Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, handed the proposed Lekki-Epe International Airport’s official Letter of Approval to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday.
At the 9th Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit, which was held at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Sirika delivered the letter to the governor on behalf of the Federal Government.
The Lekki Airport, which will be built close to the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ), is anticipated to help manufacturers and other company owners in the area export their goods.
The minister added that the Murtala Muhammed Airport was currently congested and that Lagos State was highly important to the nation’s economy.
He asserts that Lagos has the means and requirements for a second airport, which would relieve the Murtala Muhammad Airport of some of its congestion.
The governor’s proposal to build a new airport in the state, according to the minister, is a significant step in the right direction.
”Lagos with its GDP, housing and Stock Exchange, 200 financial institutions, 25 million people on 5,377 square kilometres of land mass, including the Eko Atlantic, all the industries, the tradition, the history, the tourist attraction, the Eyo Festival, and so on so forth, needs to be connected to the world.
”For Lagos to continue to be the centre of the economy of the activity of the country, Nigeria, the only best way you can link this city of Lagos to the world is obviously by infrastructure and especially civil aviation.
”The expansion of Lagos is astronomical, it’s huge, it’s big. The idea and the size of the economy is good and big. So, you need to continue to link Lagos, not only with Nigeria but with Africa and the world.
”You are not going to get it wrong because aviation has the opportunity and uniqueness to link markets, link history, tradition and culture, people, schools and hospitals, which all Lagos has,” he said.
Additionally, Governor Sanwo-Olu stated that the project was all about a collaboration between Lagos State and the federal government, via the Ministry of Aviation, for the benefit of the populace and companies.
He claimed that in order to grow economies like Lagos State, the state government engaged in both Government2Business and Business2Business activities.
The governor explained that the goal was to provide them with a platform where the necessary infrastructure and opportunities for their businesses to succeed could be found.
”This infrastructure will reduce journey time, make Lagos easily and better accessible, and people can make local and international business decisions, given all the investment that had happened in that direction,” he said.
Recall that the project, slated to start in 2023, will be constructed over 3,500 hectares of land, according to the state administration.
It claimed that the proposed airport’s master plan and aeronautical drawings were complete.
The initiative would then be introduced to the market after studies on tactics, finance, and other challenges were completed, according to the statement.
The airport would be built in cooperation with domestic and international investors, and the state administration estimates that it would serve at least five million people annually.
