Airports upgrading

The National National
Prime Minister James Marape (third right) and members of the National Executive Council during the ground breaking ceremony for the upgrading of Kavieng airport last Wednesday. – Nationalpic by LULU MARK

By LULU MARK
THE upgrading of airports throughout the country under the Civil Aviation Development Initiative Programme (Cadip) will be completed on schedule next year, says the minister responsible.
Following the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kavieng International Airport last week, The National asked Civil Aviation Minister Lekwa Gure for an update on the upgrading of the Madang, Wewak and Vanimo airports which were launched by former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill last year.
Gure said work had stopped briefly at these project sites during the Covid-19 state of emergency lockdown period but had resumed and were progressing well.
He said according to the National Airport Corporation’s (NAC) first quarter report:

  • Madang airport’s pavement upgrade, new terminal building and associated works was 38 per cent completed with the provincial government needing to free up land for the new terminal building;
  • Wewak airport’s runway extension, new terminal building and associated works was 35 per cent complete; and,
  • Vanimo airport’s runway extension, new terminal building and associated works was 52 per cent complete. Gure said work on fencing around the Kiunga airport would start soon as well as the upgrading of Kavieng airport.

“These projects are under Cadip one, which will officially finish next November,” he said.
“We expect all these projects to be completed by then, except Kavieng, which was targeted to be completed by July 2022, because the ground-breaking ceremony was delayed by almost six months.”
He said the other major project was the Nadzab Airport redevelopment project which was not part of the Cadip one, but was funded by the government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).
Gure said the contract was signed last November and the ground-breaking ceremony would be on July 30.
He said civil aviation entities and other stakeholders were still discussing the project scope of Cadip two, which would commence when Cadip one ceased.
Cadip one was established in 2009, and is co-funded by the national government, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at a total cost of K1.67 billion through its multi tranche finance facility arrangement.