Wilfred Edwin
28 September 2008
Nairobi — The Tanzanian government is to engage a private partner to expand Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport.
Construction of Terminal Three and expansion of Terminal Two have stalled due to lack of amounting to $55 million.
Some $30 million is needed for compensation of people living in houses around the airport area at Kipawa. They are required to vacate to pave the way for the construction of Terminal Three.
Terminal Two was designed for one million passengers a year, but the facility already handles 1.5 million people.
With the number of tourists visiting the country increasing year after year, the government is facing a challenge to ensure it can accommodate them.
In 2005, about 612,754 tourists visited Tanzania, earning the country revenues worth $825.5 million. In 2006, this number grew to 641,124 and the country earned $862 million.
Last year, the country received 719,031 tourists and earned $1 billion.
According to estimates by the Tanzania Tourist Board, this year the number of tourists will reach 800,000, earning the country $1.3 billion.
Already, the Tanzanian government has signed an agreement with China Sonangol International Holding Ltd to carry out improvement and expansion of the airport, including development of Terminal Three.
The Chinese company is also in discussions with the government to purchase shares in Air Tanzania Corporation Ltd, a national carrier that has not been doing well in recent years.
The Chinese firm is engaged in oil, gas and minerals investment and exploration, crude oil trading and large-scale construction projects.
The Director of Transport in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Dr Bartholomew Lufunjo, said recently the government is looking for a strategic investor to undertake expansion programmes at the airport as it has no funds.
Revenue collected by Tanzania Airport Authorities is spent on maintaining other airports, including the non-economical ones, hence the lack of money to carry out the expansion programme at the terminal, he said.
Poor infrastructure such as airports and roads has contributed to Tanzania losing tourists to Kenya, whose Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi is one of the busiest in Africa, serving as a major hub in East Africa for cargo and tourist passengers.
In 2006, the airport handled in excess of 4.4 million passengers, prompting the Kenya Airports Authority to start expanding it.
The amount of cargo handled at the airport increased from 192,300 tonnes in 2004 to 220,900 tonnes in 2005 and the upward trend persists. KAA say expansion of the cargo handling facilities particularly for horticulture and floriculture produce is also on the agenda.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The East African. 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.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
