Airport failure due to lack of maintainance

 NORTHERN Governor Gary Juffa has raised concern that the Girua airport in his province was not given a proper maintenance work which resulted in the airport not certified by the National Airports Corporation. 

In Parliament yesterday Juffa questioned Civil Aviation Minister Davis Steven on what criteria was used to engage contractor Hungry Ltd to repair the runway. 

He said the work was incomplete and did not meet the standard as expected. 

He said the work was of low standard and on two occasions has caused accidents on Air Niugini aircraft. 

Steven said safety was the core function of the National Airport Corporation as outlined in the Civil Aviation Act 2000 and that his department ensures that it was well displayed in the infrastructure and work carried on all airport facilities in the country. 

He confirmed that CivilAviation Safety Authority (CASA) did an audit on Girua Airport recently but could not certify the facility as it did not meet the standard.

 Davis said there was an audit by   CASA on all airport facilities to ensure safety is upheld. 

He said until all was completed CASA, upon findings, could award certification to Girua. 

Juffa also said there must be strict criteria applied to the selection of contractors as lives and international standard was important for the airports to serve its purposes.