Ongoing works on the construction of a new terminal at the Kumasi International Airport will be completed in October, 2022, Mr. Yaw Appiah-Danquah, Director, Airports Planning and Projects at the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), has disclosed.
The project, being executed by Messrs. Contracta Construction UK Limited, is in line with the government’s agenda to expand the aviation industry for accelerated socio-economic development.
“The construction of a new terminal building is a necessity since the old facility is a constraint to the operations of the airport,” Mr. Appiah-Danquah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi.
He cited the extension of the runway to accommodate Boeing 737-800 series aircraft and construction of new arrival halls as some of the works being done.
Additional aprons, as well as the provision of car parks and other ancillary facilities such as the building of two new fire stations, control towers and two new boarding bridges are under construction.
Mr. Appiah-Danquah indicated that on completion, the new terminal would have the capacity to handle one million passengers per annum.
According to the GACL Official, the idea “is to relocate all the operational areas, including; the control tower, terminal building and also extend the apron for the benefit of larger aircraft.”
The construction of the Kumasi Airport Phase Two commenced in June 2018, at the cost of about 66.3 million Euros.
Mr. Appiah-Danquah said originally expected to have been completed in 24 months, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down ongoing works considerably.
However, the contractors had given the assurance to step up work in order to meet the projected deadline.
About 75 percent of the work components had so far been done, ranging from engineering, procurement and some construction projects.
The GNA gathered that the Airport was originally constructed in 1943 with some extensive developments in the late 1950s by the government on the runway and taxiway lights, as well as the extension of the main runway to the southern part in the 1970s.
The building of a new terminal and installation of a VOR/DME, commissioned in December 1993, completed the modernization process.
In 2003, the Kumasi Airport was elevated to international status primarily for regional operations with the addition of security, customs and immigration staff.
In 2014, the newly rehabilitated runway installed with Aeronautical Ground Lighting Systems was inaugurated.
The President, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who cut the sod for commencement of the Second Phase of the expansion project, in June 2018, was hopeful that when completed, the International Airport would improve the country’s operational capacity in the aviation industry and also increase passenger traffic.
“Kumasi being a place for business, this is going to make it possible for moving in and out to wherever we need to go,” he noted at that time.