1 October 2008
editorial
LIKE many Zambians, we are concerned by persistent reports of people encroaching on land meant for serious national development programmes such as air transport infrastructure.
Land reserved for expansion of airports and aerodromes has continued to diminish and in some cases, nothing has been left for expansion programmes.
For Zambia, this is a sad development.
The country is in desperate need of modern airport infrastructure and a quick look around shows that Zambia is lagging far behind most neighbouring countries in terms of air travel facilities.
Concerns being raised by the National Airports Corporation Limited (NACL) on the need to preserve land for the future expansion of Lusaka International Airport need urgent attention.
NACL is worried that construction of a wall fence near the airport is encroaching on the service lines to the airport buildings.
According to NACL public relations manager, Geoffrey Chipolyonga, yesterday, the Government must intervene and stop the construction of the wall fence, or at least leave a 50-metre clearing distance from the existing airport road.
The company sought Government intervention after efforts to resolve the matter with Lusaka City Council, Chongwe District Council, the developer and the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) yielded nothing.
Mr Chipolyonga said if the construction was allowed, it would disrupt vital electricity, telecommunication and water and sewerage lines to the airport.
Our worry is that under the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) and Vision 2030, Lusaka International Airport is supposed to be a masterpiece and a regional service hub for air travel in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
The airport, as one of the oldest and most reliable in southern Africa, has a lot of potential for increased passenger and flight traffic.
The only thing we need to do is modernise the airport and make Lusaka a low-cost airline hub for Africa which may serve to increase traffic and in the long run reduce the cost of flying into Zambia and the region.
This could increase the number of tourists visiting Zambia and reduce freight costs which would be good for the export of horticultural and other agricultural products.
With Zambia scheduled to host the 2011 All-Africa Games in the capital city, Lusaka International Airport will need massive expansion and modernisation programmes to cater for the number of visitors expected for the event.
It will, however, not be possible to meet the demands of increased traffic into Lusaka for the Pan-African Games if Lusaka International Airport remains in its present state because private developers are encroaching on its land.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Times of Zambia. 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.
