Tamale to become hub for air transport in West Africa
The Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) is putting policies and structures in place to make Tamale a hub of air transport in West Africa.
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The move forms part of the authority’s plan to beautify Tamale into a mordern city through improved infrastructure in anticipation of population growth and industrialisation.
The Chief Executive Officer of SADA, Mr Charles Abugre, disclosed this to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS after presenting the Tamale and Buipe infrastructure plans to some stakeholders in Accra.
The plans are a subset of the SADA master plan, a 25-year medium-term development plan that will serve as a blueprint to the development of the savanna zone.
In outlining reasons for making the Northern capital a hub of air transport services in West Africa, Mr Abugre stated that people would get to save more time journeying from Tamale to Europe as compared to any other part of the country.
Flight path
He explained that the geographical location of Tamale had positioned the town to be on the flight path to Europe hence saving more than an hour of travel.
“First of all Tamale is a one and half hour maximum by flight to virtually every West African destination. It is on the flight path to Europe so when you take off in Tamale you actually save more than an hour going up to Europe,” he said.
He stated that the town had a lot of bare land and open space to operate which could develop the air services and maintenance successfully.
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In addition, he said, Tamale had mostly dry weather conditions which would give room for aircraft maintenance since it could succeed best under the town’s atmospheric conditions
“The area is dried up and does not have the humidity problems of Accra or Kumasi and air craft maintenance requires very dry conditions making the town very ideal for air transport,” he said.
He added that the air craft maintenance was normally done up higher in the hills or around dessert conditions making Tamale’s conditions excellent for aircraft maintenance.
Tamale Airport City Industrial Hub
Mr Abugre said SADA was committed to developing Tamale into an airport city hub and was undertaking a project to that effect.
The project, he said, included aircraft services and aircraft maintenance and would collectively be referred to as the Tamale Airport City and Industrial Hub.
He said, “This plan is part of the city’s design for Tamale and the project is called the tamale airport city and industrial hub which includes aircraft maintenance and aircraft services”.
He added that once these services were included in the hub, it would allow for light aircraft to fly across West Africa adding that as the logistics were inclusive, cargo going to other parts of the world would be easier to take off from Tamale.
“Slowly when you provide the logistics cargo going to other parts of the world will be easier to take off from Tamale than anywhere else,” he said.
Tamale Airport City Industrial Hub
Mr Abugre said SADA was committed to developing Tamale into an airport city hub and was facilitating a project to that effect.
The project, he said, included aircraft services and aircraft maintenance and would collectively be referred to as the Tamale Airport City and Industrial Hub.
He said, “This plan is part of the city’s design for Tamale and the project is called the tamale airport city and industrial hub which includes aircraft maintenance and aircraft services”.
He added that once these services were included in the hub, it would allow for light aircraft to fly across West Africa adding that as the logistics were inclusive, cargo going to other parts of the world would be easier to take off from Tamale.
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“Slowly when you provide the logistics cargo going to other parts of the world will be easier to take off from Tamale than anywhere else,” he said.