TERMINAL Three operations at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) are set to take off in October, next year, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said yesterday during a tour at the Airport.
He observed that construction activities
were complete by 64 per cent. All civil works are almost done and soon
the contractor will shift to another stage. He revealed that there was
no government debt to the contractor as all payments have been made.
He added that: “It is because we want
everything to be complete as we have planned. We want to see full
operations in October, next year.” He insisted that the terminal is set
to accommodate over 20 airbuses at once, with 22 inside the air-bridge
and others outside.
However, the presence of many airbuses
will depend on demand. More than eight million passengers are expected
on annual basis, according to the minister -- almost four times of the
current amount. Apart from taxes and foreign currencies to the country,
Prof Mbarawa added, Tanzanians will also benefit from direct and
indirect jobs.
He admitted that the current passengers’
wing (Terminal Two) has a lot of challenges, and that is why the
government has been speeding up Terminal Three construction.
Questioned on how much the government
has already spent on the job (64 percent), the minister said that: “ I
currently have no specific figures since we have been paying in
installments. But the public should know that the project will cost not
less than 560bn/-.”
Following the good progress of
construction activities, the government looked forward to issuing
tenders to cargo companies in a bid to meet passenger requirements.
Currently, according to him, there are only two companies, namely
Swiss-Port and Nas Dar Airco.
Following the expected passenger increase, many more companies are needed.
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