NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

By Lateef Lawal

The Port Harcourt site of the Toital Radar Coverage of Nigeria{TRACON} has been completed. The completion of the site, brings to four of major airports already completed by Thales ATM of France, with Lagos and Abuja already deployed for operation earlier this year after passing the mandatory calibration test.

The head of the Thales engineering team in Port Harcourt, Henry Kahoun confirmed the completion of the Radar at the weeekend during site inspection by top officials of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency[NAMA] led by the Managing Director, Alhaji Ibrahim Auyo. The Radar head in Port Harcourt started oscillating last Friday shortly after the engineers completed its installation.

The next phase of the Port Harcourt radar site, according to Kahoun would be the fixing of the Air Traffic Management [ATM] system and synchronization with the raw - radar within the next two weeks for effective service operation. ( Continues below..... )

Photo Above: Port Harcourt International Airport, Nigeria

Richard Fichot, the head of the engineering team at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport [MAKIA], Kano told the visiting NAMA management team that the radar head co-fixed with the primary and secondary surveillance system has also been mounted by the weekend, promising to deliver the site on time.

The Managing Director of the Agency, Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Auyo declared during the inspection of the sites in Port Harcourt and Kano that he was impressed by the quality of job done so far by the engineers, saying that “if this tempo is maintained, we will meet up with the deadline for both sites”.

The Director of Operations, Mr. Adebisi Adedara and the Director of Safety Electronics and Engineering Services, Mazi Nnamdi Udoh who were at both sites, also expressed optimism that the project would be delivered as scheduled. Engineer Udoh disclosed that installations are currently at the relay stations.

It was reported that the relay station in Maiduguri has been completed and only waiting for optimization of the radar system. Stations in Ilorin, Obubra, and Nunma have recorded significant progress while equipments for Talata Marafa are already at the site for installation. Meanwhile, the radar head for Kano Airport is being mounted by the engineers while the avionic components are being fixed to equally meet up with the end of the year deadline set by the contractor.

The Federal Government’s, sponsored [TRACON] project is costing about 66.5 million Euros with the contract signed in Abuja on April 7, 2003 with Thales ATM of France. The completion of the project will enhance effective surveillance of the nation’s airspace and equally boost air traffic management in the AFI-Region[Africa-Indian Ocean].

Lateef Lawal ( NigerianAviationNews )