Construction of the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport project in Zambia has been completed. Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL) announced the project is 100% complete, awaiting to be commissioned by the President.
The million dollar project, formerly known as Copperbelt International Airport, marks the first time in over 50 years that Zambia has developed a large airport after Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, formerly Lusaka International Airport, which was built in 1967.
The airport is located 20km west of Ndola, off the Kitwe-Ndola highway and near the spot where Swedish-born Dag Hammarskjöld an economist and diplomat who served as the second secretary-general of the United Nations, died in a plane crash on September 18, 1961 while trying to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Also Read:Construction work at Kenneth Kaunda Airport in Zambia nears completion
Airport’s design
The Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport has been built through a US $397m loan obtained from China’s Export and Import (EXIM) Bank. Chinese company, AVIC International, won the contract to design an also build the airport. The ultra-modern airport’s design includes a 12,000 square metre terminal building with the capacity to accommodate one million passengers.
The Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport has been built through a US $397m loan obtained from China’s Export and Import (EXIM) Bank. Chinese company, AVIC International, won the contract to design an also build the airport. The ultra-modern airport’s design includes a 12,000 square metre terminal building with the capacity to accommodate one million passengers.
The airport also has room to receive some of the world’s largest airplanes such as the Airbus A-380, which has a longer wingspan than the Boeing 747-800, which the old airport could not accommodate. The premises has been equipped with a number of amenities, among them a 50-room hotel.
Other features include a 28-metre-high control tower, a category 10 fire station, aircraft hangar, and a 3.5km runway. According to ZACL, the new airport will be handling 8,000 tonnes of cargo and 20,000 take-offs per annum.
“The much awaited development is ready and President Edgar Lungu will officially open the airport any time soon. The airport will also have a positive impact on the relevance of Zambia’s flights from Lusaka,” said Copperbelt Province Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe.
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