(eTN) – The Acting CEO of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority accompanied the Deputy Minister for Transport on a tour of secondary airport facilities currently under reconstruction, to provide details on the ongoing program launched last year (2010) to upgrade, improve, and enlarge such infrastructure across the country. This move is aimed to promote air transport for the more remote parts of Tanzania, to facilitate an increase in trade services, and to promote tourism to areas which take too long to access by road.

The ministerial tour focused on Sumbawanga and Mpanda aerodromes, which have seen work done to the tarmac and existing runways, including lengthening them in the process, while also adding apron parking for aircraft and terminal facilities, plus securing the perimeters of those fields.

Information obtained from a regular aviation source in Dar es Salaam speak of an 80 billion Tanzania shillings expenditure for the 2 facilities, although UNHCR is reported to have made a one-off contribution of 1.7 billion Tanzania shillings for, in particular, Mpanda airport, which they used for catering to visits to refugees from Burundi accommodated in the wider vicinity of Mpanda.

Airlines targeted to commence scheduled flights to those airports, when construction has been completed, are the struggling national airline, Air Tanzania, and also, and more importantly, market leader, Precision Air, which only last week announced another order of 5 ATR turboprop aircraft, supposed to be used in expanding the domestic network within Tanzania.