Investors have expressed interest in partnering
government on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) basis for construction of the
proposed Central-Western Airport, designed to serve both the Central and
Western Regions.
Deputy Aviation Minister, Joseph K. Adda, told
B&FT after a tour of cargo companies at the Kotoka International enclave
that: “We have various expressions of interests and we have initial designs of
what we want to do”.
The Central Region, which is a major tourism
destination in the country given its rich history and UNESCO World Heritage
castles sited along the coast, is only accessible to tourists –domestic and
foreign – by road.
Connecting with the regional capital, Cape Coast, from
Accra is hampered by heavy vehicular traffic. It takes about two (2) hours to
connect from Accra on a typical weekend when many people usually travel for
tourism and social events.
Takoradi, on the other hand, has a military aerodrome
that is used by civilian airline operators for domestic flights.
However, the limited use of on-ground military-owned
facilities necessitates the establishment of a new civilian airport in keeping
up with current and future growth – following the grant of more licences for
oil exploration activities off-shore the Western Region.
Following the Exxonmobil deal, the country is looking
at doing business with global E&P giants to allocate about six new oil
blocks in a bid to sustain production in the oil and gas sector.
All Expressions of Interest (EOI) from International
Oil Companies (IOC) are to be submitted by end of November, while
pre-qualification of local partnering companies and IOC’s will be done in
December. Successful bidders are expected to be selected by August, 2019.
These new developments in the oil and gas sector, in
addition to existing use of Takoradi Port for exporting minerals and lumber,
will expectedly lead to increased activity on the Accra-Takoradi corridor.
Design
of the New Facility
Mr. Adda said the Aviation Ministry and its allied
agencies are considering three different scenarios for the proposed
Central-Western Airport.
“We are looking at two or three scenarios [for the
project] and will decide which one will be most convenient for us. We may well
be able to take all three on-board.”
He added that: “We have a lot of tourists going to the
Cape Coast area, there is a lot of development going on in the oil and gas
enclave in the Western Region, and the Takoradi Port is there as well. The
fishing harbour in Elmina is also there. All these show that people will be travelling
to and from the Central and Western Regions, so we plan to move on that.”
Cargo
handling companies
The visit to three handling companies was to afford
the Aviation Minister an opportunity to appraise himself of their operations,
listen to their challenges, and work with them to grow the sector.
He interacted with officials of Menzies, Swissport and
Aviance, and inspected their facilities within the Kotoka International Airport
(KIA).
Aviance Ghana provides a range of ground handling
services at KIA airport in Ghana. It provides services to its customer
airlines, passenger check-in and baggage handling; loading and unloading of
cargo from freight flights; and a cargo warehouse operation for all import and
export needs.
Swissport Ghana Ltd. is responsible for the
management, development, maintenance and continuous improvement of the
warehouse facility; offering Import, Export and transit air cargo handling
services within a modern ‘state of the art’ cargo terminal fully-equipped to
meet International Cargo Security directives.
Swissport is also providing full ramp handling
services to all cargo aircraft operating into Accra, using all new ground
handling equipment.
Menzies also provides handling and cargo services to
the airlines industry in the country.
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