TechInAfrica – Kamuzu International Airport has opened 3 new airport terminal buildings and installing radar surveillance, with the help of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) in terms of the buildings and the radar system construction. These new installations have immensely improved the airport’s capacity in its quantitative and qualitative aspects. Malawian government officials highly appreciated this project and said they would look forward to seeing more travelers coming to Malawi.
Before the recent installations, the original facilities of the airport that are built in 1982 by Japan’s ODA had been experiencing some difficulties in terms of pushing the number of passengers that visit and depart from Malawi. With the new opening of the terminal buildings and the radar surveillance system, it is expected to significantly improve the airport’s operational efficiency, expanding its passenger handling capacity from 50 to 500 people per hour, as well as improving greatly the level of aircrafts’ safety. These contributions are something of great additions to the operating airport. An on-going project in the airport also helps improve the airport’s operational performance such as in continuing the long term support of the installed equipment, the provision of training sessions to professionals of both the radar air navigation and the radar equipment maintenance, which is a technical cooperation project in the airport.
The teams behind the ODA project are Japanese companies such as Gyros Corporation, Marubeni Protechs Corporation, and NEC Corporation, which have actively transport the required technology for the Malawian people at the construction site. These companies rolled out a significant contributions to the joint project between the airport and Japans’s ODA. Other than the transfer of technology, the companies also give the local students in the neighboring areas an opportunity for a study tour.
The last phase of renovating the existing terminal building is currently in-progress.
Source: CNBCafrica.com