Africa-Press – Namibia. THE completion date of the N$250 million Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) Congestion Alleviation project is set for the end of September 2021.
The specialist equipment, such as the baggage handling and reclaim, will, however, only be commissioned and operationalised towards the end of October 2021.
Dan Kamati, Marketing Officer at the Namibia Airports Company (NAC), stated that the project at HKIA, which is a short-term project to address the current congestion and ICAO compliance shortcomings, is well on track, with slight delays experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in 2020 when health related restrictions were implemented.
The project covers areas such as the Farewell, Check-in, Restaurant, Arrivals and Baggage handling, Departure Hall, Security and Immigration, as well as Customs.
The project also included the expansion of facilities on Terminals for domestic, VIP and VVIP travels.
Nexus Contractors is the main contractor and is joined by other 100% Namibian owned subcontracting & professional consultancy companies.
NAC provided N$95 million for the project, while the rest came from treasury.
The project is aimed at doubling the handling capacity of the airport to accommodate increased passenger movements until 2030.
Kamati further explained that the project also accommodates an increase in the departure immigration counters from the current three to seven counters, while the departure hall will be increased in size to accommodate the growing passenger movement at the airport.
The new departure hall, as an extension to the existing terminal, will also see increased space for movement with 17 immigrations counters, compared to the current eight, while the baggage reclaim hall was expanded and will be fitted with three modern carousels to bring the number to five.
Airlink, FlyWestair, Ethiopian Airlines and Eurowings Discover currently make use of HKIA, while more airlines are expected to return and increase frequencies.
“There are also at least four airlines, including South African Airways (SAA), that have shown interest in resuming flights to Windhoek, and we are currently in discussions with them on the modalities of re-start. We will make appropriate announcements when the time is right,” Kamati concluded.
