Aviation Minister blames slow pace of Tamale Airport project II on Coronavirus

Aviation Minister Joseph Kofi Kowe Adda says the slow pace at which Phase 2 of the Tamale Airport project is moving has to do with the novel coronavirus disease.

He revealed the situation is affecting the importation of most of the materials needed for the work.

The Minister made these remarks when he inspected work on the project on Wednesday, August 20.

The Minister upon arrival had a closed-door meeting with the contractors working on the second phase of the project.

The contractors, QGMI, took the minister through the architectural drawings of the project.

The team then moved to the project site, where work was ongoing.

Work on the footing of the terminal building, ground stabilization and engineering for the Hajj village and multipurpose building were going on.

The two access roads as well as the main road were being cleared.

Addressing the media, Mr Adda said the novel coronavirus disease is impacting on the production and importation of materials needed for the project.

He, however, noted that despite the challenges, some work was going on.

The Member of Parliament for Navrongo Central Constituency also reiterated that government has no plans to sell or privatize the Ghana Airports Company Limited.

“I can see that work is going on here at the [Tamale] Airport and I think though the contractors are putting in more efforts to complete the project within schedule, the impact of Covid-19 cannot be ruled out as most of the materials are imported.”

He noted the expansion of projects in the aviation sector will not only make Ghana the aviation hub in the sub-region but also create more jobs for the youth.

He expressed surprise how government will be investing huge amounts of money in the sector if it has plans of selling it.

“It is unfortunate for our opponents from the other side of the political divide to want to do propaganda with the claim that GACL has been sold by government. Let me tell you that we don’t even have that idea,” he emphasized.

Mr Kofi Adda called on Ghanaians to disregard the claims saying they are politically motivated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to shift the attention of electorates from the infrastructural expansion.

He later met with staff of the Ghana Airports Company Limited, reassuring them that the company has not been sold to any private company.

The Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed, appealed to the contractors to speed up the work, adding the project is dear to the overlord of Dagbon Yaa-Naa Abukari II.

Even though the project engineers declined to speak on camera, they told 3news.com that 25 percent of both the hardware and software of the project has been completed.

The project, estimated at a cost of $70 million with funding from the United Kingdom export finance facility, is expected to be completed in 30 months.

The project when completed will have a modern new international terminal building, a multi-purpose Hajj facility and other ancillary facilities.