Slowtotakeoff
Despite encouraging signs of expansion, Africa’s aviation industry is still hampered by the lack of transnational infrastructure projects
AT Ethiopia’s main airport at Bole in Addis Ababa, Chinese and local engineers in helmets and overalls work round the clock on a passenger terminal. They have been busy with this non-stop cycle for the last two years when the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) first announced its ambitious expansion program.
Estimated to cost $350 million, the project, due for completion by the end of 2017, has been contracted to the China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC), with a financing arrangement from the Export-import Bank of China. According to a profile of expansion by EAE, Singaporean architecture firm, CPG Corp., was also involved in the design.
Once completed, says Hiwot Mosisa, Deputy CEO of EAE in charge of airport infrastructure and facility, the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport will come of age, linking the region with the outside world by handling more passengers.
The expansion is mainly focused on modernizing the current main terminals. CCCC will, by the end of this year, have developed new boarding gates, installed new boarding bridges, VIP passenger lounges and boarding areas and built a new car park.
“We are hoping that this will triple our passenger handling capacity, which will mean that the airport can handle about 20 million passengers annually,” Mosisa told an audience attending the Modern Airports Africa Conference in Nairobi in January.
“This expansion and other related projects are aimed at making Addis Ababa the hub of the region,” said Mosisa. The Ethiopian Government has been investing heavily in aviation. The country recently announced it will put up a new airport on the outskirts of the capital. Set to cost up to $4 billion, the facility is set for completion by 2024 and will have up to four standard runways, according to preliminary information issued by EAE.
Currently, there are five other regional airports and airstrips being expanded in the country at the cost of $105 million. Set to be completed by 2019, EAE says these five will make air transportation within the country easier and hence link the main cities as well as open up the hinterland to investors.
Ethiopia’s craze in expanding its aviation infrastructure is not isolated. In neighboring Kenya, two main projects worth $650 million will see the airports in Malindi and Embu counties get a massive facelift, Transport Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera told Chinafrica, adding that the projects should be completed before 2018.
“Malindi is a tourist town, an expansion will encourage more airlines to fly in directly which will in turn have a ripple-effect on the growth of tourism,” he explained on the sidelines of the conference in Nairobi.
In Africa, there are currently about 10 airport projects involving either rebuilding of old airports or constructing new ones. According to budgetary estimates projected by each of these projects, Africa will spend about $35 billion on this infrastructure.