The second module of the terminal building at Brazzaville's Maya-Maya International Airport is set to come online shortly, the Congolese Minister at the Presidency for Spatial Planning, Jean Jacques Bouya, has disclosed. The works are part of the government's plan to develop Brazzaville into a strong regional hub with modern facilities.According to Mr Bouya, the new module will focus on international flights while the current first one will be used for internal operations. Since the launch of the first module, traffic at the airport has risen steadily from 800'000/annum in 2010 to over 1million pax/annum in 2012.
"With this terminal, designed to accommodate more than 3 million passengers a year, we still have a long way to go, because it can accommodate up to 5 million passengers. In line with increased economic activity and increased traffic, we plan to build a second terminal. Since we intend to become a hub, we have decided to build a second terminal where freight is now. We are pleased that the economic rate is up to more than one million passengers per year and that this airport has become the primary platform of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)," he said.
As part of a China-Congo strategic partnership deal, an agreement was signed to
renovate Maya-Maya International Airport with provision for the construction of two modules for a terminal of size 40'000sqm, the construction of one new runway and the upgrading of the other, and a
transformer sub-station. The total cost is USD160 million, and is undertaken by the China's Weihai International Economic &
Technical Cooperation Co. Ltd. (WIETC).
The overall second phase of the upgrade project incorporates space for a local flying club, a presidential pavilion, a new parking lot and a new airport hotel which features 120 rooms of varying standards and is directly connected to the terminal via an access tunnel, negating the need to use vehicles as was the case in the past.
The overall second phase of the upgrade project incorporates space for a local flying club, a presidential pavilion, a new parking lot and a new airport hotel which features 120 rooms of varying standards and is directly connected to the terminal via an access tunnel, negating the need to use vehicles as was the case in the past.
The XFA39billion (USD79.4million) upgrading of the airport's first ever runway, 05R/23L, is currently underway.
Since 2005, the Government of the Republic of Congo has made substantial investments into the modernisation of the country's airport infrastructure in general, and especially in the three airports under concession. In line with Brazzaville's ambition of turning the airport into a regional hub, a new freight terminal is also planned.
Currently, Maya-Maya is served by 15 carriers and is the planned hub for regional carrier, Air CEMAC.