Italian construction conglomerate, Salini-Impregilo, have had a 2010 contract to renovate and upgrade the airport at Al Kufra in the south-eastern Libyan desert, reactivated with construction set to go ahead from the end of August.  |
| Proposed new Terminal in Kufra (RenCon) |
Prior to the 2010 Civil War, the former Libyan General People’s Committee for Industry, Economy and Trade had awarded the firm the USD76million (EUR57.5million) contract for the works which include the renovation of the airport’s main 3'675x30m long runway 02L/20R, the currently unserviceable parallel runway 02R/20L, the
lateral taxiways, the apron and the airport’s
lighting system.
Salini stated that it will start work at the airport by the end of August 2013, and that the work is expected to be completed within twenty months, though in light of the current security situation in the ocuntry, it is uncertain whether or not work will proceed immediately.
A new terminal of size 24'200m² is also planned with only 18% of works having been completed however.
A new terminal of size 24'200m² is also planned with only 18% of works having been completed however.
Kufra International Airport had received its first Libyan Airlines flight from Tripoli on the 5 July, after a nine year suspension of flights.
The Kufra Oasis is located in southeast Libya, in the middle of the Sahara, 1'500km from the Mediterranean coast. An historic crossroads for routes across the desert, since the 1970s it has been at the centre of an agricultural development project based on utilisation of the Sahara’s great fossil aquifer.
