When would Tamale Airport become international?

THREE years ago, the Tamale airport, 11 miles from the city centre, was a relatively quiet surrounding. Aside the military flights, just a handful of people were using this airport for domestic flights to Accra.

Today, the story is entirely different. Statistics sourced from airport authorities indicate that, averagely, 4000 passengers use this airport every month.

 

The reasons are not far-fetched. Many more people are travelling to and from Tamale with domestic airlines on a regular basis for business and other interests, especially as the north has become the citadel of non-governmental organisation (NGO) activity in the country.

“Using the flight is more convenient and safer. It allows you to optimise the use of time and also cost effective as compared to travelling with your own vehicle together with your driver,” Mr Alhassan Mohammed Awal, the Director of NORSAAC, a gender rights organisation stated in an interview.

The Tamale airport also serves as a transit point for travellers to Bolga, Wa and other parts of the Upper East and Upper West regions.

As a result of the increasing numbers of patrons, more airlines have extended services to Tamale and as expected, competition has led to reduced prices and better services.

At the moment, three airlines – Antrak Air, Starbow and Flight 540 – are operating daily flights on the Tamale-Accra route and they charge averagely GH¢300 for return tickets, almost 50 per cent reduction from previous rates.

A cutback in the airfares also means that more people can now afford to travel by air as the standard of living in the north has improved over the years.

“If you had told me to travel by air just two years ago, I would have screamed at you, but today I prefer using domestic airlines because the fare is comparatively affordable,” said Mohammed Adam Boysula, a staff of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in Tamale.

The increased traffic at the Tamale airport has boosted business within the airport, which is evident not only in the number of people patronising the restaurant, but also the booming sale of fresh guinea fowl and the thriving taxi service.

It is obvious from the increased traffic that the Tamale airport would soon be witnessing huge numbers of passengers and this would attract many more airlines.

The concern, however, for some indigenes of the north is when the proposed upgrading of the Tamale airport into an international airport would materialise.

For long, they have yearned for this dream to become a reality, with the argument that the airport could be of more value to the north and the country if its facilities and status were upgraded.

“If we have an international airport in the north, it would boost the export of agricultural produce and other products from the Savannah zone,” the Co-ordinator of the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP), Mr Roy Ayariga told the Daily Graphic.

He said making the north an export hub would transform that part of the country and help bridge the north-south development gap.

Other people have also noted that having an international airport would ease the difficulties that are encountered each year by pilgrims to the Muslim city of Mecca.

President John Dramani Mahama

Upgrading the Tamale airport into an international airport would however require improving the facilities at the airport at a cost and this has been the main stumbling block.

The government recently gave indications of progress being made in securing funds for what it termed the Tamale International Airport project.

A Daily Graphic report of June 7, 2012 indicated that the Brazilian government had granted a request to finance the project and that the Ministry of Transport had already entered into an MOU with a Brazilian firm, Queiroz Galvao, to handle the construction.

When contacted, the Manager of the Tamale Airport, Mr Julius Akoboafo confirmed that the government had made some progress in acquiring funds for the project and gave the assurance that work was likely to begin by the end of the year.

He noted that the upgrading of the airport would involve providing new facilities and expanding existing ones, such as the runway.

“The length of the runway, for instance, would be increased to 4km. It currently measures below 3km,” he hinted.

“To make an airport international means it has to be operative both day and night and so we have to put in place adequate lightening systems. At the moment, there are no lights on the runway,” he stated further.

For now, it remains uncertain when funding for this project would be available and this leaves the people of the north with no option than to keep their fingers crossed.

(This article was also published in the Daily Graphic of August 7, 2012, p. 28)