Monday, February 4, 2013

■ CONGO (KINSHASA): RVA launches study for new cargo facility at N'djili International Airport.

DRCThe Democratic Republic of the Congo's aviation authority, Régie des Voies Aériennes de la République Démocratique du Congo (RVA), has embarked on a €280'000 study for the construction of a new cargo facility at Kinshasa's N'djili International Airport.


Cargo loading at N'djili (JvanHeijst)
The study, funded by The World Bank, aims to establish the necessary technical and financial framework needed for the construction of a new cargo facility at N'djili, whose current infrastructure has outlived its usefulness. According to the RVA:
"The current cargo terminal is outdated and inadequate for the treatment of cargo, as far as safety standards are concerned. Almost all freight is handled in warehouses outside, away from the airport."


The study comes under The World Bank who operate in the DRC via the Multimodal Transport  Project (MTP). Under the MTP, it plans to allocate about USD9.6million to finance:  
  • a study on the construction of a new cargo area in Kinshasa/N’Djili  International Airport;
  • the development of a plan to rehabilitate secondary  airports and replace the radio position fixing and  instrument landing  systems of  Kinshasa/N’djili International Airport, as well as the training of technical staff;  
  • the procurement of five ADS-B stations (which ensure direct communication between aircraft and ground stations) and the flight processing and  visualization system worth a little more than USD 5 million, the contract of which  was signed in early August 2010.
Source [AfDB]

As part of its restructuring, the RVA with technical and managerial expertise provided by French firm ADPI (Aéroport De Paris Engineering), has embarked on a program to rehabilitate the DRC's crumbling airports and air traffic control systems. 

This program will be implemented over a period of 10 years, and is designed to help the company to significantly improve air safety in the country, while increasing the throughput of both freight and passenger traffic at its airports.

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