Work to start on re-opening of airstrip

National
Source:
The National,Friday June 17th, 2016

 By HELEN TARAWA
Scoping work will begin soon for the re-opening of Ioma airstrip in Northern, Member for Sohe and Minister for Youth, Religion and Community Development Delilah Gore says.
Gore said K80,000 has been budgeted for the airstrip and the project team would be travelling to the district to determine the scope of works to be carried out.
Gore said she held talks with the Minister for Civil Aviation Davis Steven to ensure that the airstrip was opened to enable service delivery.
“I have talked with the civil aviation minister but I have to take the lead by getting it maintained and cleaned up before they certify it for aircraft to start landing.
“I want the airstrip to be the target so that the military aircraft CASA can drop off bigger volumes of materials at Ioma.
“This is where all the materials can be piled up so that we can reach to other parts of the district,” Gore said.
She said work on the jetty was delayed because it was still going through the tendering process so the focus now was the airstrip.
“We have to open the airstrip so that we can stockpile our materials to reach Gira, Eia and other areas.
“The Ioma airstrip was closed due to lack of maintenance so getting it re-opened is very important.
“Before the year ends, I want the Ioma health centre to be opened as well. The project team has visited Mangure and Korisata aid posts where there is a road link to Popondetta.”
Gore said all the money would not be spent until the scoping was done. The project team will carryout scoping and at the same time cleaning the airstrip.