Nation
Why Osun govt relocated Ido Osun airport to Akoda – Aviation expert
An aviation expert and member of Osun Airport Technical Committee, Otunba Lai Oriowo on Wednesday noted that the latest findings of the Committee on Ido-Osun Airport site discovered that the existing runaway of 1.67km could not meet the needed and appropriate standard as planned.
Oriowo stated this while briefing journalists on the reason the government of Senator Ademola Adeleke deemed it necessary to relocate the airport from Ido Osun, its original location.
It would be recalled that the Ido-Osun community recently protested against the relocation of the Airport site to Ede Community with the believe that it was taken to the Governor’s home town for a political reasons.
However, giving comprehensive reasons behind the government decision to relocate the airport, Oriowo noted that the total area of the site was estimated to be approximately 3,871,806.34square meters (387.18 Ha), as a result it would not be suitable for the airport.
He emphasised that the existing runway which is 1.67km did not meet the required standard, saying the minimum runway for a standard airport is 4.8km.
According to him “the runway length required for class 4E Aircraft is 3600x 45m and additional minimum distance of 750 meters on both approaches for Runway End Safety Area/Clearway for instrument runway is 5,100m against the available dimension of 3,250m.”
He averred that citing the runway at this site (Old Aerodrome Site) Ido- osun, therefore, will require relocation of Adeleke Secondary School and also the displacement of some settlements at the other end of the site.
He said the existing culvert of 65 metres transversely located at different sections of the running route and open/fabricated drainage already constructed are not ideal for an Airport.
The required length of culvert across the runway should be 150m against 65m to cover both runway width and its strip.
Oriowo posited that “the uncompleted Terminal Building, Control Tower Building and Fire and Rescue buildings, are wrongly located with reference to the runway nothing that access to the Airport is limited to only Osogbo – Ede Road.
“The layout shows that less than 120m is the available land at 04-approach threshold to Adeleke Secondary School fence for the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) and at the other approach 22, the available land is 150 from threshold 22 to Oshogbo, and Ede Bye-pass.”
The Aviation expert emphasised that the above reasons were cited as making the old site unsuitable for a full fledged airport while it will still serve as training school for the air force based on the MOU between the State and the Air Force.
He said on the new site in Ede, Perimeter survey has been carried out which revealed the total size of the site at Akoda, Ede to be 1922.111 hectares while the runway will be 5.6km for a standard Airport as envisioned by the State Government.
Oriowo pointed out that the State Government has paid the sum of Five Million, Ninety-One Thousand, One Hundred and Sixty-One Naira, Twenty-Five Kobo (N5,091,161.25) to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency for the Wind Rose and Daily Wind Analysis.
“The State Government has equally paid the sum of Thirty Million Naira (N30,000,000.00), as fee for the Airport Design while the state must comply with Aviation standards”.
