Tong-Raana Kugbilsong Nalebtang Robert Mosore
Bonaboto, a development oriented group in the Upper East Region, wants the government to maintain Bolgatanga as the location of the Upper East Regional Airport.
Paramount Chief of Talansi Traditional Area and Member of the Council of State, Tong-Raana Kugbilsong Nalebtang Robert Mosore, whose area forms part of Bonaboto, made the appeal at the Jubilee House on Friday when they paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo.
He recalled that in 1992, the Bolgatanga Airport project was started by the Regional Coordinating Council and was taken over by Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and later halted due to funding challenges in 1994.
But sometime in July 2018, he said President Akufo-Addo promised to commence work on the project on a land that had been inspected by the then Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Dapaah, at Sherigu in Bolga when he visited the area.
“Contrary to your firm commitment to the people of Bongo, Joseph Kofi Adda since taking over as the Minister for Aviation following a Ministerial reshuffle, has been making frantic efforts to re-develop the technically unsuitable Paga Airstrip against the interest of the people of the Upper East and North East regions,” he said, adding that “Mr. President, our case to retain the Bolgatanga Airport in the Regional Capital is not born out of ethnic interest but on real technical commercial considerations.”
He said “Bolgatanga is central in the Upper East and North East regions and goes through major towns including Walewale, Bawku, Zebila, Nalerigu, Navrongo, etc. and thus convenient for all travelers; no other location meets this criterion.”
Apart from that, he indicated that “according to aviation experts, technically, a primary requirement for a modern (instrument) airport is enough airspace for landing aircraft to be able to align onto the landing runway at 10 nautical miles which is approximately 18km.”
He further said experts had indicated that “this requirement is what results in aircrafts overflying Burkinabe airspace when the prevailing winds required a landing from the North-Western end of the airstrip and thus not suitable. National security and sovereignty will be compromised in times of diplomatic disagreements with Burkina Faso,” adding, “It will not be possible to use Burkinabe airspace to land in Ghana under such circumstances and thus must be discourage as a matter of prudence.”
President Akufo-Addo welcomed the appeal for an independent team of aviation experts to be constituted to study the situation and to advice the government on the most appropriate location for the airport.
He also assured the people of the region that all the other concerns they had about Bolgatanga town roads, the elevation of the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital to a teaching hospital and the approval for the Grurene language to be included at the Basic Education Certificate examination would be given immediate attention.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent