The €66.35m ($75.23m) Kumasi International Airport Rehabilitation project, which started in November 2018 is about 90 percent complete and expected to be operational soon.
The project involves the expansion of the runway, construction of a new passenger terminal building with modern state-of- the- art facilities, a new apron for more and even bigger aircraft multiple service facilities and a new air traffic control tower.
The existing runway will be extended to 2,300m from the previous length of 1,981m, to enable the airport to accommodate wide-body aircraft such as Boeing 737-800.
Last week, the Ministry of Finance released €7 million out of the remaining €9 million needed for the completion of the three phase of project, which had been delayed because of funding constraints. The airport was originally scheduled for completion in June 2023.
With the release of the €7 million, the new Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, expects the project to be completed in two months promising to release the remaining €2 million within a week to ensure uninterrupted progress and help with the runway extension and control tower.
The contractor is expected to also demolish the old terminal and bring the airport up to international standards by the two month deadline.
The Finance Minister said that the gesture is an indication of the commitment of the government to complete the project and other major projects in the Ashanti region.
Jorge Tavares de Almeida, the Project Director of Contracta Construction UK Limited, briefed the Minister on the progress of work and assured that the project would be duly completed in the next three months.
When completed the project is expected to increase domestic air traffic from about 500,000 to a million flights per year.
