People urged to look after airport

The National Business

THE people of Vanimo have been urged to look after their new airport infrastructure and take pride in the new terminal building.
National Airports Corporation (NAC) managing director and chief executive officer Rex Kiponge said the K28.8 million Vanimo Airport terminal was part of the total Vanimo Airport upgrade project valued at K70.1 million.
It was jointly funded by the Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“The Vanimo Airport Upgrade Project is under Civil Aviation Development Investment Programme 1, trench 3 projects,” he said.
“It is a significant investment for people of West Sepik and Papua New Guinea.
“In November 2018, NAC awarded this project to China Railway Civil Engineering Group Co Ltd with construction starting in April 2019.
“I would like to thank PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) hierarchy, past and present, for the Trade-off Agreement signed in July, 2021, which allowed NAC to build the new terminal building on its portion of land in exchange for NAC to refurbish the PNGDF’s existing Forward Operating Base (FOB) facilities here in Vanimo.”
The scope of this project included:

  • EXTENSION of the aircraft runway by 300-metres to achieve a total of 1,960m and enables unrestricted operations of Fokker 100 or similar types of aircraft which was completed in November 2020;
  • CONSTRUCTION of the new terminal building; and,
  •  OTHER associated works included the construction of the powerhouse and staff houses in Vanimo.
    “Previously, Vanimo Airport had a runway strip length of 1,660m that catered for smaller aircraft,” Kiponge said.
    “However, as of November 2020, the new extended runway length of 1,960m means Vanimo airport now has the capacity to take larger aircraft with more seating capacity.”
    Kiponge said the new terminal had a holding capacity of up to 100 people.