Joseph Kofi Adda
The Ministry of Aviation has acquired a land at Kajebil in the Ahanta West municipality of the Western Region for the construction of an international airport in the area.
The initiative is currently at the feasibility study stage pending approval from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP).
Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Aviation, who disclosed this, mentioned that the region really needed an international airport considering the fact that it houses the oil and gas industry with its allied ventures.
The minister was in the Central and Western regions to see the potentials the two regions had in the aviation space. He said the Takoradi Airport had immense significance because it served the oil and gas as well as the mining industry.
He said the aviation sector was a significant element in the country’s economic development hence the need to expand the sector by developing infrastructure and improving services to make sure that business development and tourism were supported to enhance the economic lives of Ghanaians.
He further stated that his outfit was in consultation with MoFEP to see how best air travel fares could be reduced to make it affordable to enable more Ghanaians to access internal flights to be able to do quick businesses.
He added that more airlines had shown interest and would soon take off to bring competition to the airfares so that it would come down for more Ghanaians to afford.
He said though the renovation works at the Takoradi Airport was being done solely by the Ghana Air Force, the Ministry of Aviation had been supporting with gadgets to do civil works, among others.
He said his ministry was also liaising with the Ministry of Finance to raise some money to support the rehabilitation and reconfiguration for the arrival and departure halls to help bring comfort to passengers.
Air Vice-Marshal Frank Hanson, Chief of Air Staff, said the Takoradi Airport expansion project would enable it to take more domestic airlines to open the market for competition which would also beat the airfares down for more patrons.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, noted that the absence of a civilian airport hampered air transport business in the region.
He said the expansion project was necessary to position the Takoradi Air Force Base to be able to give more room to civilian passengers until the region had an alternative airport.
He explained that the Ghana Air Force was already on the Board of the Civil Aviation Authority and could, therefore, do a proper collaboration to augment the operations of the airport and support it to improve on its operations.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi