THE Managing Director of Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), Engineer Ladislaus Matindi has assured residents in Kagera Region of the institution’s plans to expand services due to the region’s proximity to three East African Community (EAC).
He noted that there was a conducive business climate and ATCL was keen to utilize the opportunity to increase its business volume.
He also appealed to Tanzanians to grab the attractive investment opportunities by increasing production to enable the nation to get raw materials needed in its industrialisation drive.
Mr Matindi revealed this information today morning when he paid a courtesy call and held discussions with the Kagera Regional Commissioner (RC), Brig Gen Marco Gaguti.
“We are delighted by the increasing number of passengers using ATCL services. We have plans to extend services not only for Kagera but the Lake Zone regions Mwanza, Kigoma, Simiyu, Mara and Kagera.
Due to its proximity to three EAC nations namely Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, Kagera offers an attractive business opportunity,” he said.
He also said that the number of passengers using ATCL at Bukoba Airport is increasing with average of about 2400 passengers being recorded each month.
“During this festive season, passengers using ATCL flying from Bukoba to other destinations are fully booked until January 12, this year,” he said.
According to Mr Matindi, the national airliner carrier flies to twelve destinations in the Tanzanians side as Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Mpanda, Iringa, Mbeya, Mwanza, Kigoma, Bukoba, Tabora, Dodoma and Mtwara.
It also has international flights to Mumbai (India), Bujumbura (Burundi), Entebbe (Uganda), Hahaya (Comoros), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Lusaka (Zambia).
Kagera RC, Brig Gen Marco Gaguti noted that the region has two fish processing plants while some of the business people were forced to use airports in a neighbouring country to export fish products, “This is a golden opportunity for ATCL to avail its planes for exporting fish and agricultural products,” he said.
He explained that plans were underway to expand the Bukoba Airport to allow bigger aircrafts to land in Bukoba.
Rehabilitation and expansion of the Bukoba Airport will pave way for efficient crossborder trade and transportation between Tanzania and its East African neighbours.
Expansion of the current runway will enable larger aircrafts to land at Bukoba Airport and more passengers including foreign tourists will be using the airport, he said.
About 93,731 passengers are recorded to have passed through the Bukoba Airport within the past three years, an annual average of 31,243 ‘transits’ over the period under review.
Bukoba Airport Manager, Ms Doris Uhagire revealed that some 28,693 passengers were recorded during 2014, with the numbers slightly increasing to 31,914 and 33,124 passengers over the next two years (2015-16).
There are indications that more passengers were now using the Bukoba Airport……and we’re confident that when the extension of the current runway is completed more passengers including foreign tourists will be using the airport, she said.
On November 6, last year President Magufuli shelved the envisaged construction of Omukajunguti Airport in Missenyi district and instead ordered that the 9bn/- compensation budget be used to extend the Bukoba Airport runway.
He said the government was keen in extending the airport from the current 1.5 to two kilometres.
The extension will enable larger aircraft to land at Bukoba Airport…..so spending the 9bn/- on another airport at Omukajunguti isn’t viable, he argued.
He thanked the World Bank (WB) for a credit facility that would facilitate the rehabilitation of Bukoba Airport, appealing for more funds to finance its extension works.
The Bretton Woods institution had since doled out 57.5m US dollar, with the government injecting another 11.7m US dollar for the project.
The works included the airport’s rehabilitation by extending the runway to 1.5 kilometres and relocating Tumaini Primary School, once located within the runway, to Mafumbo area.
In efforts to avert possible risks to the pupils, 31.95bn/- went into rehabilitation works, with 2.6bn/- spent on the school relocation.
As tourism grows by leaps and bound in Africa to become a key growth driver, Tanzania is the top destination in the East Africa Community.
Travel and tourism in Africa grew by 5.6 per cent in 2018 compared to the global average of 3.9 per cent and the broader African economic growth rate of 5.2 per cent, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
