By Adedeji Adenle
The Ogun State governor Dapo Abiodun has hinted at the possibility of commercial activities taking off at the state agro-cargo international airport.
The Airport which is situated at the Iperu-Ilishan Road in Ikenne Local Government Area. The construction of the project started April 2021 and is expected to commence commercial operations before end of this year.
The Ogun State Gateway Agro-Cargo International Airport is meant to serve as cargo and passenger facility from the heavy industries built between the Lagos-Ogun corridor and the Agbara Industrial Layout. It is expected that the airport, which is well located, will provide seamless service for the evacuation of finished products from these companies and delivery of raw materials.
The airport located at the centre point of Ogun State is easily accessible as it is joined by two major highways – the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Sagamu-Benin Expressway.
In a chat with journalists, the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun made mention of the administrations agenda (ISEYA) in which he noted that Infrastructure is a key part in serving the people of ogun state as his priority.
Accorfing to him, “Ogun state boasts of numerous potentials ranging from Industries to Gas Pipeline amid others and the Airport is a way to connect the world with Ogun state and its people.”
He said “we are excited about the opportunities we have been presented with. We have undoubtedly opened Ogun State to the whole world”.
“Due to its close proximity with Lagos the 5th largest economy in Africa it was only ideal the state tapped into the rich wealth being created thereby decongesting the heavy traffic at the ports of Lagos.”
Speaking further, the Governor highlighted that “when commercial operations commence at the airport, it is a 30 minutes or 40 minutes drive to from any part of Ogun State to the airport, board your flight, and fly to whatever your destination is. When completed, will employ between 30,000 and 50,000 workers.”
The Governor also hinted at the commencement of a dry port in the state to be located at Kajola.
He said: “We will also be constructing our dry port soon. And when the port, which will be in Kajola, is constructed, it means that if you are shipping goods from anywhere in the world to Ogun State, you don’t need to go through Lagos anymore. You can simply ship your goods through the Kajola Dry Port, just to take the containers on the train and then come down to Kajola. When you also want to export your goods, you will stock the containers in Kajola, put them on the train and the containers go on the vessel”.