Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, has visited the Niger Delta Television (NDTV) to inspect ongoing works on the station’s mast as part of preparations for a test flight of the Cargo airport.
The mast is being reduced to 300 feet in order to pave way for the commencement of test flight operations and the commissioning of the Bayelsa International Airport.
During the inspection, the commissioner said without the reduction of the mast, flights would operate as the NDTV is located at the gateway of the airport.
He explained that due to its importance, the state government decided to temporally suspend the operations of the NDTV and apologised to the station’s esteemed viewers.
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The commissioner described the ongoing work as highly technical and encouraged the technical team to ensure they meet the deadline for the completion of the work.
“The mast from the report am getting from the team of engineers who are working on it, they are saying that at the end of this month it will come down to 300feet.
“Hopefully, there will be test flight at the airport so airplane can land at the airport. The Mast at that time will not construe any kind of obstruction as we are hoping and believing that the engineers will not fail us as they have promised not to.
“We have to evacuate the staff of NDTV given the danger that it poses to our workers. It is part of our being proactive to ensure that we do everything to safeguard the lives of people especially workers here.
“I want to ensure safety first. It will be a tragedy that anything happens to anybody here. Much as we want the mast to go down as quickly as possible, it is important to put safety first and we have taken measures to ensure that utmost priority is given to safeguard the lives of everyone here.
“That is the reason why it is taking us time for the mast to come down but the antenna has come down already and other items will follow”.