Luanda - The works at Mbanza Congo Airport, Zaire province, with 32% completion, could be completed by 2025, the Minister of Transport, Ricardo de Abreu announced on Thursday.
According to the minister, who was speaking on the sidelines of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the National Multisectoral Commission for the Safeguarding of World Cultural Heritage, guided by the vice-president of the Republic, Esperança da Costa.
Mbanza Kongo airport, which will have domestic and international connections, is being built since 2022 on an area of 12,100 square meters and a control tower height of 35.64.
The official stressed that the airport is essential to guarantee compliance with UNESCO obligations as cultural heritage.
“This way it will attract tourists to the city of Mbanza Congo and it lacks an infrastructure with the capacity to receive 250 thousand passengers per year”, he highlighted.
He mentioned that it was necessary to boost an entire complementary infrastructure to have a city with a tourist attraction for the country in the cultural sector.
He added the creation of a master plan with the provincial government to guarantee the protection of infrastructure in order to avoid vandalism.
The construction project for the new Mbanza Kongo airport, named "Nimi a Lukeni", with international category, is budgeted at more than 89.92 billion Kz.
The new airport is being built in the town of Nkiende II, approximately 34 kilometers from the city of Mbanza Kongo, and will have a runway 3,500 meters long, 45 meters wide, 7.5 meter shoulders on each side and is designed for take-off and landing operations for Boeing 777-300ER type aircraft.
An administrative building, an operations building, a fire-fighting station, a cargo terminal and auxiliary facilities are part of the project, which has so far generated 168 jobs, 33 of which are Chinese. FMA/ADR/CF
