Ghana international airport control tower to be relocated

The control tower of Ghana’s only international airport, the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra is to be relocated.

The relocation of the control tower is said to be done for the purposes of “enhancing safety in Ghana’s airspace,” the US Embassy Information Officer, Ben Easp told ghanabusinessnews.com on the phone.

The funding for the project is provided by the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed last year between the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the USTDA for an amount of $295,000.

But there is confusion over the exact nature of the major construction work at the airport. While the Chief Director of the Ministry of Transport Mr.

Ankrah Selby told ghanabusinessnews.com that the control tower will be relocated, the CEO of the GCAA, Mr. Simon Allotey said it is the “area control centre” which would be moved to another location, adding it is for safety reasons as well.

The current “area control centre” as Mr. Allotey described it is housed on the fourth floor of what is known as the control tower of the Kotoka International Airport. The building he said was built in 1969.

Mr. Allotey also said bids have been received from US companies and one company would be selected and awarded the contract to conduct feasibility studies for the relocation after approval from the USTDA. He said the contract for the feasibility study would be awarded by the end of August and it is expected to be completed by December 31, 2009.

When it is completed the control centre would be a stand alone building at the airport for air traffic control.

Meanwhile, a US source close to the State Department has told ghanabusinessnews.com that, while “the safety of Ghana’s airspace is being used as a pretext for the project, there are other reasons behind the development.” According to the source, the relocation is being done at the instance of the US government for “US security interests.” But the source stopped short of stating the exact “security interests.”

Ghana Ministry of Transport and GCAA officials however, say, the development was at the instance of the GCAA.

A press release from the US Embassy in Ghana in February, 2009 had indicated that the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has given the government of Ghana some support to use in the modernisation of the country’s international airport.

The amount is expected to be used to upgrade the capacity of the airport in three phases to help the airport regain its Category 1 status under the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme.

The first phase of the project would be the refurbishment of the passenger terminal, the second stage would be to develop a new Air Traffic Control Centre (ATC) and the Meteorological Services Department would be modernized in the final phase.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi