Zambia's National Airports Corporation Ltd should, in the next two weeks, announce the winner of the contract for the construction of a new passenger terminal at Lusaka's Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. The terminal is part of a USD500million project to upgrade the airport as a whole. |
| A rendering of a Lusaka International Airport concept proposal (Boogertman) |
Speaking in an interview with Air Transport News, Robinson Misitala, the Managing Director of the NACL said that they had already short-listed seven (7) bidders and would be announcing the winning bid in the coming weeks.
Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka is to under-go an extensive expansion that will be phased over the next few years. A new terminal building designed for International arrivals and departures will replace the current facility at a cost of about USD200million while new aprons, taxiways and a control tower are also to be developed.
Regarding plans for the NACL's other upgrade projects around the country:
- Ndola - The Zambian Government intends to relocate the airport to a new site. Despite its hefty USD1billion price tag, the government has "indicated that it will support the development."
- Livingstone - Planned construction of a second runway to also act as a secondary taxiway to improve airfield efficiency.
- Mfuwe - Government is to put up a new international passenger terminal building suitable for tourists as the area's proximity to Luangwa National Park is growing in popularity.
For a breakdown of all the ongoing projects in Zambia, see this post: ■ ZAMBIA: Ambitious aviation infrastructure projects to pave the way for Zambia Airways 2.0?
In total, the NACL said it had received 19 bids for the expansion and
rehabilitation of infrastructure at the four International airports in
Zambia.
Misitala went on to say that the NACL had been actively wooing Kenya Airways (KQ) and Ethiopian Airlines (ET) to start flights to Livingstone, the Zambian town on the Victoria Falls, given its strong tourism potential. With a second runway in place at the tourist town, the possibility of luring scheduled carriers from further afield will also be more plausible, given the number of intercontinental charters the airport had seen in the last year.
Zambia has in recent months made various moves towards establishing itself as a regional aviation hub for southern Africa. The government there has been in talks with Ethiopian Airlines (ET) over the setting up of a new national carrier which Ethiopian CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, stated should be in the skies come late 2013.