FG Plans 10,000 Capacity Multi-level Car Park at MMIA

Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos

Chinedu Eze

The Federal Government has concluded plans to build an automated multi-level car park at the international terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. Construction is expected to start in the second quarter of this year and would be completed before the end of 2014.

The proposed multi-level car park will have computerised system that can document entry and exit of vehicles, notify users of absence of parking spaces, vacant spaces as well as floors where those spaces are located.

THISDAY also gathered that the computerised system would profile cars, scrutinise their nooks and crannies to ensure that they do not bring in prohibited substances like bombs and other dangerous materials.

The car park, it was also learnt would be linked to the terminal to protect users from rain and sunshine. Also, X-ray and other screening machines would be installed at the exit points to ensure thorough security checks.
General Manager, Corporate Communications, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Yakubu Dati, said that the car park, when completed, would ease vehicular movements and security checks.

Dati explained that traffic congestion at peak hours at the airport was due to the narrowness of the road, adding that the situation was usually worsened by vehicles that were stationed for hours at the airport terminal, waiting to pick Very Important Persons (VIPs).

“The car park will be automated. The plan is that it will create more spaces to expand network. The project will start second quarter of this year. So we want to sanitise the present car park by moving people out of the place, clear the thoroughfare and create alternative place for temporary car park”, the spokesperson said.

A top security official, who commented on security implications of the planned relocation of the car park, noted that although Aviation Security (AVSEC) officials and the Police monitor activities at the present car parks, relocating the car park would come with some challenges because of the alternative car park is likely to be smaller than the present one.

The implication of this, according to him, is that traffic congestion would be worsened because motorists would park their vehicles on the motorways and security operatives would find it difficult to control vehicular movements.

“We are going to see greater problem than what is presently observed, but we are going to ensure that vehicles no more park along the roads. We are going to deploy people to carry out surveillance and monitor vehicle movement. It is not going to be easy because the whole of the car park is going to be vacated in preparation for the project to take off,” the official told THISDAY.

If FAAN and AIC Nigeria Limited reach a compromise, the E Wing area may be designated as the temporary car park pending when the project would be completed.