Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Wudineh Zenebe
1 April 2008
The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) is to buy radar for commercial flights' surveillance, at a budgeted cost of 70 million Br. It will be one of the 15 capital expenditures that the Authority plans to make in the current fiscal year, of which four are new: Procurement and installation of an HF transmitter, receiver and communication facilities; design and construction of air navigation facilities for Gode Airport; and renovation of the aviation training facility.
The buying and installing of radar is one of these four projects.
When installed at Bole International Airport in three months, the radar will be the first equipment to help aviation traffic controllers on the ground, who had been trained in South Africa and an Egypt few years ago.
Acquiring radar for commercial aviation was part of the three-phase modernization plan at Bole International Airport, together with newly built terminal and runway, which were completed in 2006. Although the fund was secured from one of the three financiers of Bole's modernization, NORDIC Fund, the procurement of radar was put on hold following an argument from IATA that the size of traffic at Bole does not justify the installation of the equipment, according to a knowledgeable source.
Airlines pay much higher fees for landing and take off at airports with radars. The absence of radar, however, costs them a lot more, as they have to fly over Bole airport for 20 minutes to half an hour, waiting for traffic controllers on the ground to let them land.
"This costs the aircraft additional fuel, as well as adds to wear and tear," said a senior pilot at Ethiopian Airlines.
According to Girma Yani, head of Air Navigation Department at the Authority, the radar will ease air traffic congestion.
"It will also help planes save time, energy and money," Girma told Fortune.
According to some estimates, flying over airports for half an hour cost airlines close to 2,000 dollars.
Now officials at the Authority seem to be determined to make things right. Their request for a supplementary budget to the Authority's 50.4 million Br budgeted for this year was approved by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) two weeks ago, disclosed sources at the Ministry.
The procurement of the radar, Approach Primary and Secondary Surveillance Radar, will be conducted through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN specialized global forum for civil aviations where the Authority is a member. A tender was floated three months ago, and three companies - Inbira, Salina and Tales, based in Spain, Italy and France, respectively - have been short -listed for final evaluations, according to officials at the Authority.
These sources told Fortune that officials at the authority hoped that the winner would be selected within one month.
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