The Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (L'Agence pour la Sécurité de la Navigation aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar - ASECNA) the pan-African air navigation service provider, has been awarded a EUR2.8million contract for the implementation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems across Africa. The contracts comes under a EUR9million programme entitled "Support to the airline industry and applications of
satellite services in Africa" under the joint auspices of the ACP (Africa, Caribbean
and Pacific) Group of States Secretariat and the European Commission (EC).
The program will include 4 projects whose implementation has been entrusted to various international organizations:
- "Improving Aviation Safety in Africa", entrusted to the European Agency for Aviation Safety Agency (EAASA) with a grant contract budget of EUR2.7 million;
- "Improving Aviation Safety in Africa," won by IATA with a budget of EUR1.3 million;
- "Implementation of the Global Navigation Satellite System/European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (GNSS/EGNOS) & Capacity Building for Satellite Navigation in Africa" - also called Project SAFIR - awarded to ASECNA for EUR2.8 million;
- "The Training Program on satellite navigation services for the joint program office GNSS/EGNOS for Africa" - Project SAFIR's sister called Project TREFA - entrusted to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) & UNESCO with a budget of EUR1.2million.
Source [ASECNA]
 |
| GNSS/EGNOS |
AirTransportWorld states that Project SAFIR will last two years and will cover the setting-up, staffing and operations of an EGNOS-Africa Joint Program Office (JPO) with proper regional participation of the various beneficiary countries. Future JPO missions will be to define the baseline and oversee the subsequent implementation phase for the specification and procurement of the development and deployment of GNSS/EGNOS in Africa.
During the first two years of the SAFIR implementation phase, 10 staff members will be recruited. SAFIR, which will be housed in ASECNA’s Dakar offices, will also set up and support a number of technical working sessions composed of regional stakeholders concerned with GNSS/EGNOS in sub-Saharan Africa.
During the first two years of the SAFIR implementation phase, 10 staff members will be recruited. SAFIR, which will be housed in ASECNA’s Dakar offices, will also set up and support a number of technical working sessions composed of regional stakeholders concerned with GNSS/EGNOS in sub-Saharan Africa.
The
ACP backed program aims to improve safety, security
and efficiency in the African air transport sector in line with the Common African Civil Aviation Policy (AFCAP) adopted by the African Union in January 2012.