team of the Joint Transport Sector Review, comprising of the Infrastructure Committee of
Parliament on a guided tour of ongoing
works at Entebbe Airport. (PHOTO/Courtesy)
ENTEBBE — Works and transport minister Eng Monica Azuba has asked Civil Aviation Authority and China Communications and Construction Company (CCCC) to quickly finish works on the conception block that will house Uganda Airline offices.
The conception block is one of the structures constructed at the airport for departures and arrivals under the airport expansion project.
The minister together with Members of Parliament on the infrastructure committee were inspecting Entebbe airport, one of the ongoing government construction projects ahead of the sector review next month.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) briefed the officials on the progress of Entebbe International Airport (EIA) expansion project saying it will help the country to handle at least 3.5 Million passengers up from the current 2 Million.
Mr. David Kakuuba the Director General at the now Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, (UCAA) said the project is being sponsored by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) as part of a USD 9.5 Million grants to Uganda from the Government of South Korea, for which we are grateful that the works are on course.
He said: “We have finished improving the departure immigration counters.”
He told stakeholders that the upgrade involves improving the airspace management and flight procedure designs for EIA, implemented the Air Traffic Services (ATS) Message Handling System and a computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Airport Operational Database (AODB) system.
Other works include improvement of flight procedures efficiency through Air Traffic Management, establishment of a modern terminal operations control center that has already been installed at the airport and a training facility at the CAA Head office.
He said the ATC Radar and airspace management system were recently upgraded, giving it an extended life span of 10 more years.
On infrastructure upgrade, he said a number of projects; especially the internally funded have been completed while others ongoing.
He divulged that the authority has expanded the long term car parking from 240 to 410 parking slots and increased departure immigration counters from 6 to 11 and improved the area ambiance.
Mr. Kukuba said the arrivals immigration counters were increased from 14 to 20 to reduce on queues of which one was dedicated to passengers with disabilities.
He said expansion of the passenger terminal building to provide more room for departing passengers is on-going and being undertaken by Seyani Brothers (U) Ltd.
He said a cargo Aircraft Parking Apron stands at 95% complete while a landside and airside access roads is over 90% complete.
