New airport terminal for Kumasi

The Ghana Airports Company Limited is to construct a new terminal building at the Kumasi Airport to ease the current congestion at the facility.

The decision to construct a new terminal is also to ready it for regional flights from Kumasi to the sub-region, following firm interests shown by regional airlines to operate flights from the Ashanti Regional capital.

Sources say, President John Dramani Maham is expected to break ground for the commencement of the project this quarter.

The Kumasi airport has since December 2014 began night operations following the rehabilitation of the runway and the installation of runway lights. The second phase of the project includes the construction of the new terminal building.

GACL is expected to fund the new terminal using part of a US$150million loan it secured from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and South African bank ABSA.

The rehabilitation of the 1,981-metre long runway and installation of aeronautical ground lighting system (AGL) at the Kumasi Airport, made it possible for night operations by airlines.

The Kumasi Airport underwent extensive renovation works. A three-layer runway was completed and the airport ground lighting systems installed. The precision approach path indicator at both ends of the runway, installed threshold lights; stop way, edge and end lights; installation of 32 approach lights and wind-cones are all in place.

ADB Airfield Solutions (ADB), a Belgium-based market-leading airfield technology company, undertook the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL)-funded installation of all airfield ground lighting system

Africa World Airlines and Starbow started night operation’s after the completion of the first phase of the rehabilitation works at the airport.

Domestic operators hitherto had to operate within a 6am-6pm window due to the absence of ground lighting at the said airport.

Other airports expected to benefit from the US$150million facility include the Wa Airstrip and the construction of a new airport at Ho in the Volta Region.

The Ho Airport project will include runway dimensions of 1,900-metre long and 30-metre-wide aprons; air traffic control, passenger terminal building capable of accommodating 150,000 passengers a year; baggage handling systems, boarding gates; CCTV’s, fire detection systems; VIP and VVIP facilities; and fire-fighting and water storage facilities.

The construction of a regional airport at Ho, capital of the Volta Region, is expected to boost tourism in a region endowed with so many tourist attractions. The potential of the region to attract a large number of in-country and foreign tourists is not in doubt.

Perhaps after the Central Region, it is the second-most endowed region in terms of tourism sites -- waterfalls, forests, animal sanctuaries among others.

Ho Municipal is one of the 25 municipalities and districts in the Volta Region of Ghana. The municipality is also administrative capital for the people of the Volta Region, which is endowed with fertile land suitable for the cultivation of yam, rice, maize, and onion.

President John Dramani Mahama at the official sod-cutting ceremony for the airport noted that the decision to develop a domestic airport in Ho is meant to enhance the tourism potential in the region.

“The expected impacts include directly providing employment within the air transport industry -- such as airline and airport, aircraft maintenance; air traffic control and meteorological services; and indirectly Ho providing employment for ancillary support services in the air transport industry…for example, aviation fuel and construction companies.”