Construction work is currently underway on the new Luanda International Airport located in the municipality of Bengo and Icolo and will progress well without being affected by low oil prices on the international market according to the Angolan Minister of Construction, Waldemar Pires Alexander. Waldemar was speaking when Angola’s President visited the work site.
The Angolan government had approved construction of Luanda International Airport project in 2009, after need arose to connect the country with the International Business World rose.
The airport project is being undertaken by the China International Fund Limited (CIF) and the Ministry of Transport in Angola after signing a FIDIC contract worth US $3.8bn.
The new Luanda International Airport will cover an area of 1,324 hectares and will be modernized in order to make it the aviation hub of western Africa. The airport will cater for 15 million passengers ad 50 000 tons of cargo every year.
The Luanda airport will have two double runways, the northern runway which will be 4,200 meters long while the southern runway 3,800 meters long.
The airport project will entail construction of a terminal with a floor area of 170 000m2, with three piers each having ten gates. There will also be a rail link constructed to link the airport to Luanda Provinces and possibly Malanje Province.
Mace Project Director, Carlos Cruz noted that this is a very important airport project for the country and it will help in the economic growth of Angola putting Luanda in the International aviation map.
Mace has been appointed to offer project management and site supervision services with the project expected to be complete by 2017. The announcement also comes in the wake of many other airport projects being undertaken to open up Africa.
