| Kilimanjaro Airport facelift starts January | Send to a friend |
| Thursday, 15 December 2011 22:01 |
 By The Citizen CorrespondentDar es Salaam. Renovation of the Kilimanjaro International Airport will start in January as part of efforts to improve services at the 40 year old airport to meet the demands of increased tourist flows in Northern Tanzania. The services would include modest expansion as well as overhauling and resurfacing of the runway, taxiways and aprons, according to Kadco CEO Marco van de Kreeke.“A new taxiway will be built to increase the capacity of the airport and the terminal building will be upgraded and expanded to accommodate the growing flow of tourists into Northern Tanzania,” Mr Marco said in a statement made available to The Citizen yesterday. The renovation would start with the design phase, which will be done by the Netherlands Airport Consultants (Naco) at the cost of Sh920 million. The design phase is expected to take about eight months. The Sh57.5 billion renovation project is the first major facelift since the airport was inaugurated in 1971. The renovation funds come from a grant provided in November by the the Kingdom of Netherlands and from Kadco’s own resources. Passenger traffic through the airport is expected to reach 650,000 this year from about 200,000 in 2002, a threefold increase over the past decade. Kadco management is negotiating with a number of international flag carriers to open new routes to KIA. Airlines that currently operate at the airport include PrecisionAir, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Rwanda Air, Congo Air and Ethiopian Airlines and Flight 540. The statement said that once the Development Phase is completed and the design is approved, the Dutch government will provide a second grant to cover 50 per cent of the cost of the actual rehabilitation and the other 50 per cent is to be financed by Kadco through the airport’s revenue, adding that tendering and actual works are foreseen to take place in 2013/2014. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
