A leading member of Alliance of Accountable Governance (AFAG), Abu Ramadan says the people of the Northern Region do not need an international airport.
He said the ongoing expansion project of the Tamale airport to give it an international status is a “misplaced construction project if you ask me.”
“Our people don’t need an airport at this time – the poverty situation is killing the people of the north…The people of the north don’t need an airport. My people don’t need an airport. That is misplaced!” he fumed.
[contextly_sidebar id=”SWWBclTtvVBMDBp1OcnbokXeW8txzxmJ”]In September 2014, work began on the $100-million upgrading and expansion of the Tamale Airport into an international airport.
When completed, the Tamale Airport will serve as an alternative to the Kotoka International Airport which is the only international airport the country currently has.
According to the government, the airport will also handle international operations, including the seasonal Hajj pilgrimage flights between Ghana and Mecca and it will as well support the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) in the export of perishable goods, especially fruits and vegetables to Europe.
However, speaking on the Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News on Wednesday, Abu Ramadan who is also the National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC) said the project would have benefited the Ashanti Region.
“That big airport we are building in Tamale would have better suited and would have raised more money for this country if it was built in the Ashanti Region,” he opined.
He observed that if government’s reason for building an international airport in Tamale is just to airlift pilgrims to Mecca during the Hajj, then it should discontinue the project.
According to him, the Tamale airport currently generates little traffic from domestic airlines therefore; it will be unwise to continue with the project.
He said: “Even the domestic flights, how many of them and how many flights do they do take to Tamale? It has nothing to do with the size of the airport but the traffic situation is low.”
He commended government for the ongoing expansion works at the Kotoka International Airport saying, “I will commend the government for the expansion project but will ask government to go a step further and look at ways of expanding Kotoka to make it bigger.”
Reacting to the newly refurbished Kumasi airport, Abu Ramadan asked, “can Lufthansa land on the runway? So we can have Emirates and South African Airways land there?”
“Putting lights on the runway and putting all those sophisticated equipment to allow planes to land in the evening have been long overdue. Kudos, well done, you have done it but the Tamale project is the most misplaced construction project if you ask me,” he added.
He clarified that his criticisms of the NDC government must not be misconstrued to mean “Abu Ramadan hates the NDC government so much that nothing pleases me.”
The AFAG member said if the “government does something right, I will praise the government. With the hardships we face currently, government needs to sit up and that is the bottom line.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan