, 19 tweets, 15 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
ENTEBBE AIRPORT AND THE RACE FOR REGIONAL HUB STATUS
There is no doubt that the facilities at @UgandaCAA's Entebbe International Airport, opened 10th November 1951 as the largest airport in Africa, are dated and in need of serious upgrade and repair.
@UgandaCAA It is the reason why top honchos at the Uganda CAA came up with a $586m modernization plan for the beloved airport, a scene of very many dramatic experiences for very many nationalities.
@UgandaCAA On Saturday, August 29, 2015, the construction of Phase 1 of the expansion started. The cost; $200m from Export-Import Bank of China payable in 20 years. The first 5 years were given as the grace period. Phase 1 involved a new 20,000 square meter Passenger Terminal...
@UgandaCAA A new 10,00 square meter cargo center (99% complete as of today), strengthening of Runway 17/135 and rehabilitation of runway 12/30 which are all done. Overall, @UgandaCAA reports 60% of works done after 4 years and a few months.
@UgandaCAA Recall that, there was that 5 year grace period before we start paying back the loan? Well, we haven't yet started using most of the facilities...Now, cognisant of that fact, renegotiation of the loan terms was undertaken by @GovUganda and the EXIM guys. Part of the contention...
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda was that the contract had a clause where if loan repayment was delayed by @GovUganda, then, EXIM would have the liberty to garnish the accounts of @UgandaCAA.
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda This caused massive delays as the Ugandans thought this unconscionable and the Chinese refused to budge. A project supposed to be delivered by the end of 2019 monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosp….
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda ...was pushed forward. The grace period had to increase to 7 years to make sense to the Ugandans.
During that period, Kenya opened up a new terminal at JKIA. The Ghanaians, built and finished the over 50,000 square meters Kotoka International new terminal, the Tanzanians...
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda gave it ago with their new Terminal at Julius Nyerere. The Senegalese pushed through with Aeroport Blaise Diagne (a beautiful piece of architecture), the Togolese revamped Gnassingbe Eyadema International, and the Rwandans started on their problematic but moving forward...
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda $818m (now $1.3 billion) Bugesera International Airport. All these are in response to an air passenger market that sustains a minimum of 9% growth year on year but is highly depressed due to travel barriers on intra-Africa travel. Despite the Yamassoukro Decalaration of 1988...
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda followed by the Yamassoukro Decision of 1999 on Open skies, African countries treat each other shabbily in placing undue restrictions on air travel that has seen the continent of over 1.3 billion people have only 92million passengers at end of 2018, less than 1% of intl...
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda air passengers. Europe, had 2.34 billion people use its airports for the region with only about 750 million-odd chaps! That is about 25 times more travelers than in Africa!
Of course, we now have the SAATM (Single African Air Travel Market) championed by the @_AfricanUnion
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion Unlike the Yamassoukro Declaration where 44 countries signed on, and implemented zilch, this time, perhaps wiser or more parochial, only 28 members of the @_AfricanUnion have signed up.
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion Good old Entebbe, one of the best-placed airports in Africa, which mostly has hot and high airports that require longer runways and more power to take off, at 1,153m asl, compared to JKIA at 1,624m asl and Kigali at 1,491m asl. Bugesera will come in at 1,400m asl. Which brings...
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion airport management, investment and ownership/control. according to a Steer Davies Gleave study in 2016 for the European Commission ec.europa.eu/transport/site… 15% of airports around the world are fully privatized, 18% are in public-private partnership with the remaining 67% in public
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion ownership. However, the privatized or commercialized
airports now account for 50% of airport passenger traffic. In Europe, this is at 75% of passenger traffic at non-publicly controlled airports airport-world.com/features/other…
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion It is perhaps this realization that whereas public control or a hybrid is desired, the Rwandans opted to give @qatarairways a stake in the management, running and ownership of their new hub. They will achieve efficiency, get the necessary investment and get passengers streaming..
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion @qatarairways as Qatar Airways has to make the route work.
"Some countries in Africa despite their geographical and economic advantages are seriously still lacking behind in infrastructure, which doesn't reflect the true image of the country’s potential when you land and see what is in place
@UgandaCAA @GovUganda @_AfricanUnion @qatarairways as airports. Uganda lands in that category. Will @GovUganda and @UgandaCAA acknowlegde this fact and ask any of @emirates and @SingaporeAir or @KoreanAir_KE or any other to enter a PPP to make this a competitive hub?
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with DBwambale

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!