FAAN attributes recent power failures to new terminal construction

Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has attributed the incessant power outages in the last three weeks at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, to the construction work going on at the new international terminal of the airport.

Although power was restored at most part of the airport yesterday, after about six hours of blackout, but FAAN said there could be more disruptions as the agency planned to find a lasting solution to the power cuts.

According to the agency, electric cables buried underground that provide power at the airport were inadvertently excavated by construction workers at the location the new terminal is being built.

Yakubu Dati, general manager, public affairs, FAAN, who confirmed the excavation of the cables, said engineers from the agency had been working to move the cables from the construction site and replace those that had been destroyed, noting that this would take a little time before the work was completed.

“Preliminary reports indicate the cause of the outage was the damage of two 11KVa underground cables located within the construction premises of the new international terminal.

“Our engineers are urgently rectifying the problem. However, FAAN will relocate these cables out of the construction site to prevent re-occurrence and we crave your indulgence while that is being done. The authority apologises for the inconvenience caused to airlines, passengers and the general public,” Dati said.

Investigation discloses that demand for electricity at the airport has been overstretched due to increased activities and expansion of the terminal, and FAAN has acquired 500KVa transformer and it is in the process of installing the equipment.

“Once we move the cables from the construction site, we are sure we would have stable electricity supply at the airport. But to permanently meet the growing demand and in view of the rapid and continuous increase of activities in the near future, we are installing the 500KVa transformer,” Dati said.

FAAN does not rely on public power supply because of the hiccups associated with it, so the agency has new generators and with the combination of the old ones, the authority has been providing electricity to both the international terminal and the General Aviation Terminal, he said.

Dati also said that FAAN would replace all the old underground cables, which were installed when the airport was built almost 40 years ago.