Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has denied the claim by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Adams Oshiomhole that the Bayelsa International Airport was built at a cost of over N100bn.

Oshiomhole on Thursday during a meeting with the immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri and some state governors accused Dickson of spending N100bn on the airport which, he said, was flooded.

But the governor during an inspection tour of the new airport said the project was built at a cost of less than N70bn and built by one of the best engineering and construction firms in the country.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Fidelis Soriwei, the governor said the sand filling of the airport project was undertaken by another reputable firm, Westminster Dredging International, which delivered after sustained work for over a year.

Dickson described the Bayelsa International Airport, which has a 3.5-kilometre runway and equipped with some navigational equipment and other facilities in the aviation sector, as among the best in the country.

He said, “The cost of construction of the airport which is less than N70bn including acquisition, clearing, sand-filling, construction, the terminal building, the fire bay, the control tower, and state-of-the-art facilities and others was not different from other airports in terrains better than that of Bayelsa.

“We are on a facility tour of the 3.5 km runway airport, the Bayelsa International Airport contrary to the claim by the national chairman and leaders of the APC, the airport is not flooded and will never be flooded.”