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APRIL 2, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 25

Resurrecting Tracon

**Fani-Kayode, Minister of Aviation**

With more than 76 million Euros so far expended on the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project since 2003, Captain Ado Sanusi, managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA), seems set to resurrect the project, with plans for the fresh injection of N4.1billion
By George Umunnakwe
When after weeks of resumption of duty as managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA), Ado Sanusi, an aircraft captain hinted of plans to re-open negotiations concerning the much politicised Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, otherwise called TRACON, critics had dismissed him with a wave of the hand.
Marshalling out his plans for resuscitating the project, however, Sanusi explained that past managements of the agency did not follow due process in getting the project on a right footing. Instructively, he was not the only person with this view, as the Minister of State in-charge of Air Transportation, Femi Fani-Kayode, shared the same view.
In different fora, they described the deal (TRACON) as very messy. They then vowed to give airline passengers and, indeed airline operators, cause to smile very soon. With the resuscitation of the project, they said they intend to increase the revenue base of the Federal Government. Nigeria loses million of dollars which is suppose to accrue to her through over-flyer charges. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), makes it mandatory for any aircraft flying over a country’s airspace to pay that country certain per cent of its entire ticket sales. This money is deducted from source through the IATA fund.
Unfortunately, while the brohaha on the TRACON project lasted, the country has not been collecting the money, as it has no records of the number of aircraft that plies its airspace.
But all these, it seems would soon be a thing of the past, as the combination of TRACON and Safe Tower Project (STP), which is expected to cover all the airports in the country is designed to capture any aircraft that enters Nigeria’s airspace.
Speaking while taking delivery of air traffic console for the STP, Sanusi explained that the new radar system would allow for effective billing of airline aeronautical charges, adding that no aircraft would again “sneak into the country’s airspace without being detected”.
Interestingly, while the STP will cost the country and indeed NAMA- which is to fund part of the project- a total of 38 million Euros, in addition to N300 million local content, the new TRACON will be funded from the sum of N1.6 billion and N2.5 billion appropriated in the 2006 and 2007 budgets respectively. The cost includes new buildings that are to be provided for the Abuja and Kano airports. Also, Saunsi hinted that on-shore payments are to be invoiced in naira.
According to the NAMA boss, when completed the project would enhance safety in the air transport sector of the economy. He also stated that the new air console earmarked for Lagos has bigger capacity because of the traffic in the city. “The console will come with a radio communication and hi-tech meteorological facilities”, he said.
On the TRACON project, Sanusi said it has been divided into two phases, with the first focusing on completion of all installations for the Abuja and Kano airports as specified in the initial scope of supply. This, however, is in addition to the provision of primary radar to the Lagos segment. The project is expected to be completed in 15 months.
Sanus: “With the signing of Amendment three, there is no doubt that the agency is now poised to fast-track this project once more with all the seriousness it deserves to ensure that the implementation of this phase of the project is achieved in target time.
“The renewed drive to sustain the project is borne out of the need to make our airspace safer. And for airline passengers to have confidence in the system. New buildings are to be provided for Abuja and Kano airports, instead of refurbishment, while all on-shore payments are to be invoiced in naira.”
The TRACON project, Sanusi further explained, will comprise state-of-the-art surveillance system, encompassing secondary surveillance radar, integrated flight and radar processing system and other associated facilities for the four international airports, in addition to the ones in Talata-Mafara, Maiduguri, Numan, Obubra in Cross River State and Ilorin in Kwara State.
And in preparation for a smooth operation of the state-of-the-art equipment, the agency, The Source gathered, had already trained 12 engineers on the maintenance of the system, while 32 area radar controllers have been pencilled down for training in the United States. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), The Source further gathered, was recently signed in Washington D.C United States of America, by the minister in charge of air transportation in Nigeria and the authorities of the training institute in the USA.
Notedly, by the time the project is completed, the agency which has come under fire following the way the project was handled by past administrations, would have succeeded in taking the country’s airspace management to the next level - that is, from ground- based terrestrial navigational aids to satellite-based systems.
Meanwhile, The Source’s investigations reveal that a total payment of $22,368,546.93 has been expended on the TRACON project. This is apart from the N4.1 billion that it will cost the new management of NAMA to bring the long- awaited project to a logical conclusion. Also, a total of about $4.657,500 was alleged to have been over- paid for the Lagos TRACON by successive NAMA administrations.
Notedly, the monies includes the building, installation and maintenance of both the Abuja Airport TRACON building which the Sanusi management has promised to build.
But construction work on the Abuja TRACON is about to begin, NAMA, The Source was told, is expexted to pay off the entire money owned Thales of France, the long-standing contractor for the project. This said amount is in the region of 66 million Euros.
Rowland Iyayi, the immediate past managing director of NAMA, towards the end of last quarter, 2006 had ordered for about 20 Distant Measuring Equipment (DME). This was at a cost of about 18 million Euros.
The DME consists of airborne and ground equipment, which usually is co-located and is used by pilots because of its convenience during flights. It also provides both distant and ground speed information from the ground facility. The equipment operates in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF), which can be paired with Very High Omni-Directional Radio Range (VOR), or Instrument Landing System (ILS), or even localised frequencies.
This equipment were, however, domiciled inside the Abuja warehouse of Panalpina, the company contracted to clear the consignment from the ports, because due process was not followed in acquiring them.