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Mozambique: Air Transport Liberalization Boosting Economic Development
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
16 April 2008
Posted to the web 16 April 2008
Maputo
The new policy of domestic and regional liberalization of air services implemented by the Mozambican government has been crucial for country's economic growth and increase in the air traffic, said in Maputo on Tuesday Diodino Cambaza, chairman of the Board of Directors of the publicly owned company Aeroportos de Moçambique (ADM).
Cambaza was speaking during the opening ceremony of the 39th Meeting of the African Regional Working Groups of the Airports Council International.
During the 3-day meeting, the participants will discuss regional positions and identify ways to respond to the numerous challenges facing the airport industry in Africa and the world.
These challenges include security measures and in particular, the new rules on liquid and gels, airport safety requirements, strategies to simplify business in the air transport sector, among others.
According to Cambaza, such liberalization, on the light of recent agreements signed between Mozambique and South Africa, establishes five points of entry in the country, namely Maputo, Beira, Nampula, Pemba, and Vilankulo. This is translated in an increased frequency of air flights between both countries and more affordable air tickets, especially for tourist excursions.
On the occasion, Cambaza said that in 2007, the company ADM handled just over 1.5 million passengers, 14 tonnes of cargo, attended 56.656 aircraft movements, provided air navigation services to 22.600 overflights and created 626 new jobs.
For 2008, the indicators related to the movement of passengers in the Mozambican airports will reflect the economic growth of Mozambique, with particular emphasis to the tourism sector, which in recent years has seen a remarkable growth.
He cited as an example in 2005, when nearly one million tourists visited the country, setting a new record in the number of tourist arrivals.
"ADM is responsible for the management of airports and airfields of different sizes, a number of which are still lying idle or running under loss", he said, adding that "but they still deserve special care, as we believe that these infrastructures are capable of inducing development in the regions where they are located. '
Cambaza also said that his company has drawn an action plan in line with Mozambique's policy of Civil Aviation that advocates the involvement of the private sector in the development and management of airport infrastructures in order to materialize the desired economic development.
Due to the lack of resources, ADM will have to improve synergies and take advantage of the existing opportunities provided by a number of mechanisms of bilateral or multilateral cooperation with other countries and international organizations such as the ACI, seeking institutional development of Mozambican airports.
Currently, ADM is responsible for the management of the existing 19 airports and airfields across the country.
For his part, George Muhoho, president of ACI, Africa Region, said that the growth of the airport industry in Africa continues to outpace international trends.
Muholo said that in 2007, ACI Africa airports members handled over 125 million passengers, "representing a 7% increase of traffic compared to 2006".
This poses a major challenge on the existing capacity due to the anticipated economic growth and integration in Africa.
"From Maputo to Cairo, our members are building new facilities and upgrading the existing ones to cope with the traffic demands, which require continued investments of over 750 million USD per year", he added.
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The meeting is being attended by over 70 middle to senior managers from airports operators from all over Africa. Also in the meeting are representatives of experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Transport Association (ITAO), and industry partners.
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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