Author: SYLIVESTER DOMASA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA Airport Authority (TAA) advisory board made its first visit to the Msalato International airport site, weeks after the government started screening bidders to construct the much-awaited airfield.
Board Chairman Dr Masatu Chiguma expressed satisfaction at the pace of implementing the construction work, stressing that the new airport and ongoing renovation will boost the air transport arrivals in the region and across the country.
According to the chairman, the expansion work at the Dodoma airport will help increase the number of arrivals that had recently suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of arrivals and aircrafts landing at the airport over the past five years. This number is expected to increase after the world fully gets to normalcy,” he noted.
He added that the board was impressed to see the site where the construction work of the international airport in Dodoma would soon start.
Dr Chiguma urged the airport authority to ensure that it fairly compensates people who paved way for the construction of the airport.
In 2019, the government received over 272million US dollars concessional loan from the African Development Bank to build the largest state-of-the-art airport in the country’s capital.
The authority said the screening process was currently gaining momentum and that construction work would begin soon.
Bertha Bankwa, the Dodoma Airport Manager, said the tender had long been floated. She told reporters that the board also visited other projects going on at the Dodoma airport.
They include the expansion of the runway by 250 metres to 30 metres, extension of the airport apron as well as the taxiway.
Engineer Focus Kadeghe, the project manager, said the expansion work would allow Airbus 220-300 to land and turn at the Dodoma Airport.
“We have been able to complete expansion of the parking yard to accommodate at least 80 vehicles, up from only 30,” he said.
The additional 250 metres makes the Dodoma Airport qualify into Code 4 C of airports classification and it will now have a total of 2,750 metres of runway.
The planned Msalato International Airport will be seating at a 45 square kilometres area and its runway will be 3600 metres by 60 metres, allowing any aircraft to land and take off.
It will be classified at code 4E according to experts.
