Harare — Refurbishment of the Harare International Airport runway and taxiways is progressing well with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe having so far spent US$2,6 million on the project

Treasury has allocated CAAZ US$14,4 million to continue the refurbishment that had stopped in 2007 due to lack of funds.

Airport development manager Engineer Shamiso Makova said CAAZ has already made progress in the rehabilitation of the taxiways and they look forward to finish the work by the end of this year.

"So far we have managed to reconstruct about 1km on both the runway and the taxiways in over a month and we look forward to finishing the remaining 3km by the end of this year," she said

The project is being done in two phases, with the first phase being the 1,4km with four taxiway links to the runway that is expected to be complete by October.

According to Eng Makova the new refurbished runway will have a larger carrying capacity of planes in line with other international airports.

"Our new refurbished taxiway will be able to cater for the larger planes like the Airbus 380 because planes land and depart on the runway so there is need for taxiways to enable planes to pave way for each other.

"The competition is intense hence the need to refurbish so that we match international standards," she said.

CAAZ is also working closely with air traffic controllers at the airport and business is continuing as usual without disrupting the flow of traffic.

CAAZ also plans to build a new runway at Victoria Falls Airport and funds permitting similar works would be carried out at other airports in the country.

The upgrading and refurbishment of infrastructure at Harare International Airport started in 2002 but stalled in 2007 due to the harsh economic conditions.