Works on Entebbe Airport new terminal building now at 60%, says UCAA

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority has revealed that ongoing works for a new 20,000 square metre passenger terminal building at Entebbe International Airport are 60% complete.

Speaking to journalists during a guide tour of the ongoing expansion project at the airport, UCAA Director General, Fred Bamwesigye said having completed the new passenger terminal building, they are now working on another terminal building.

“The overall works at the new 20,000 square metre terminal building currently stand at 60% but overall, expansion works at the airport are at 90% in the first phase,” Bamwesigye said on Friday.

According to Eng. Ayub Soma,  Director Navigation and Airport Security at UCAA, the ongoing construction works for the new terminal building will see the facility connected to the old 30,000 square metre terminal building.

“By connecting the new terminal building to the old one, we will have increased the capacity and now we will have a 60% increase.,” Eng Soma said.

The construction

Chinese company, China Communications Construction Company was contracted to handle the expansion project of the airport at a cost of $200 million.

The expansion works include reconstruction of the main runaway and its associated taxiways, the rehabilitation of runway 1230 and its associated taxiways, rehabilitation of aprons, construction of cargo complex, construction of a new terminal building, increase water supply and storage capacity.

Speaking on Friday, UCAA Director General, Fred Bamwesigye said so far most of these works are either complete or are about to be completed.

Eng. Ayub Soma said part of their efforts is to enhance the runways to the biggest in the world.

“We want to enhance the runways to be able to accommodate bigger aircraft like A380 which have larger wings and it means if we do that our runways can move to the highest type of runway that exists on earth. By doing this, we are calling in more airlines to come to Entebbe Airport,” Eng.Soma said.

The UCAA Director General however warned that there will always be inconveniences caused by the ongoing expansion works but asked the public to bear with the situation for a small time.

He also commented about the recent flooding at the airport that he said was temporary but said ongoing drainage works will help address this issue.

“This place you see is a home of water since this was a lake and was reclaimed to construct the airport. The water will always try to take to reclaim its original habitat. Those criticizing us should take into consideration these facts. It is important we don’t exaggerate but state the exact facts,” Bamwesigye said.

“We will continue expanding the airport as we did from 2 million passengers to now 3.5 million passengers per year. In future, we want to be able to accommodate 6 million passengers.  We shall continue to expand these facilities because each month that passes, the number of people using the airport as passengers and other users increases.”