Government to Construct Modern International Airport

By: Mary Mensah, ACCRA
The government’s plan to construct a modern international airport in the Dangbe West District in the Greater Accra Region is on course.
The Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, has said.
Land acquisition process, she said, was currently ongoing.
The plan to construct a new international airport forms part of the government’s policy to open up the country by establishing at least an aerodrome in every region of the country.
 Mrs Dzifa Attivor made this known at the 2014 annual general meeting of the Chattered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), Ghana in Accra yesterday.
New members were admitted into the CILT.
Regional Airport
She said the role of  regional airports within the broad aviation hub would be to serve as feeder airports to the international airports.
She said an aviation system master plan study was currently ongoing with support from the World Bank to identify probable locations for greenfield aerodromes in order to guide a systematic development of the aviation sector.
Aviation hub
The theme for the meeting was, “The Role and Importance of an Aviation Hub in the Economic and Social Development of the Country”.
The Minister said the theme was in line with the ministry’s vision to make Ghana an aviation hub within the sub-region.
 With regard to infrastructure development,  she said, there were major infrastructure works in progress which when completed would make the Kotoka International Airport (KIA)  an aviation hub.
Potential Benefits
Mrs Attivor said for the aviation hub concept and policy to be successful and to derive the associated potential benefits, necessary infrastructure and safety measures, among other facilities should be in place.
She said there was also the need for a home based national airline to drive the programme and a key elopement was to ensure an effective distribution of transit and connecting passengers.
First phase
The minister said the first phase of the arrival hall expansion was partially opened for use and would be fully completed by the end of the first quarter of 2015 to accommodate the growing number of travellers .
According to her, negotiations were also ongoing for the award of contracts for works to start in the first quarter of 2015 on the construction of a third terminal, adding that the construction of a southern apron at KIA for wide body aircraft was nearing completion.
New facelift
She said those projects would give a new facelift to the airport with modern infrastructure to handle the growing traffic as well as transit facilities to ensure flexibility in travel.
Mrs Attivor indicated that further important areas that would ensure the sustainability of the drive to create Ghana as an aviation hub was in the area of training and capacity building for the aviation sector.
Quick Read
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), Ghana has held its annual general meeting  in Accra.
The theme for the meeting was, “The Role and Importance of an Aviation Hub in the Economic and Social Development of the country”.