The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) Deputy Director General Mr. Fred Bamwesigye has re-assured Ugandans and the General Public that the upgrade and expansion of Entebbe International Airport is progressing steadily with the 100,000 tonnes cargo center complex 90 percent complete and it’s a steel frame building fitted with state of the art cold rooms and freezers to store perishable cargo for export and import.
“There are quite a number of upgrade and expansion projects taking place at Entebbe International Airport and they have come with an inconvenience to the users of the facilities but we want to appeal to all the users of Entebbe Airport through the media to bear with us as we make the aviation facilities match the modern times and be at par with the facilities world over. We (UCAA) want to apologize to our passengers that every other corner of the Airport we are renovating and works are going on because we must continue to be ahead in the provision of these facilities for our growing number of passengers”, Mr. Bamwesigye stated.
Bamwesigye added;
Therefore that calls for a lot of hard work, a lot of patience and a lot of understanding on the part of Ugandans who are our passengers and other users but also on the part of every other stakeholder so that this facility continues to make us proud as Ugandans. Overall project progress currently stands at 56 percent however we are glad to note that the cargo complex is 90 percent complete and the modification of the terminal building is at 67 percent. While Entebbe International Airport handled a paltry 118,000 international passengers in 1991 at Uganda Civil Aviation Authority’s (UCAA) establishment, the Airport handled 1.65 million passengers in 2017 and 1.84 million passengers in 2018.
Bamwesigye also disclosed that in the first year of 2019, (January to June 2019, 913,284 passengers were recorded in comparison to 842,582 recorded in the same period of January to June 2018, an indicator of 70,702 more passengers already.
Meanwhile, Eng. Herbert Ngobi, UCAA Chief Eng. Aerodrome Planning and Development, revealed that a new fuel farm is under construction where all fuel will be stored and the storage capacity will increase from 7.5 million liters to 20 million liters after completion of the new tanks mid-next year (2020). Eng. Ngobi also revealed that the reconstruction of the Very Very Important Persons (VVIP) Aircraft Parking Apron 2 (where the head of state and other high-level dignitaries use for their departure and arrival) is ongoing and the overall progress is at 28 percent and will be completed by November 2019.
