By Goth Mohamed Goth
The Minister of Civil Aviation and Air Transport Hon Mahmoud Hashi Abdi and the Minister of public works Hon Abdirizaq Khalif Ahmed jointly presided over a ceremony for the inauguration of 20 new projects at the Egal international airport.
The Aviation Minister briefing the press on the new facilities said, “We have in the past six months worked hard to guarantee and ensure security is at its highest levels in our airports, so we started by deploying two state of the art X-Ray machines to scan passenger luggage’s, Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) and CCTV equipment all around the airport with the aim of enhancing our security capabilities.
“We have managed to deploy two more X-Ray machines to scan passenger luggage’s at the arrival terminal and which will help in the tax collection through identification of cargo disguised as personal belongings, in fact I would like to inform you that this piece of equipment has being able to ID dangerous cargo which had previously passed through undetected at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport which demonstrates this equipment to be very reliable,” he said.
The Aviation Minister also went on to say, “During the last six months we have been able to refurbish, renovate and build extra facilities necessary for the main terminal and same includes enlarged modernizing arrival and departure terminal lounges to cope with the increasing number of passengers using the Egal International Airport, as you can see we have install modern rotating glass doors, the refurbishing of all furniture we added an extra storey for the departure terminal to ease the congestion of passengers and can now accommodate extra 750 persons from the previous number of just 50 persons before President Silanyo came to power and which means 1000 people can be through the departure terminal in less than 1 hour at any given time.
“We have separately built a new structure which will house the machine used to scan and process incoming luggage and another similar structure to be used for checking departing passenger’s luggage as well as new full furnished business center which will cater for all the needs of the passenger and two water foundation meant to thrill passenger’s during their stay and we have added new resting areas to be used by people waiting for their relatives to arrive at the airport.
“We now receiving an ever increasing number of flights and passengers using the airport facilities since the airport was open compared to one year ago when only 90,000 passengers used the airport ,now we hope the number will rise to 500,000 passengers by next year since we now have longer runways and facilities to accommodate the almost every type aircraft which are commonly used for international or intercontinental travel and now Egal International airports will also serve as hub or places where non-direct or transit flights may land and passengers switch planes”, stated Hon Hashi.
Hon Mahmoud Hashi Abdi speaking during the inspect ion tour said , “When the current government came to power the Egal airport was classed as class2 runaway by ICAO but now its class 7 runaway and when its finally completed it will be Class 10 runaway.
1- The deployment of a Human body scan machine, ATD and 2 X-Ray machines to check luggage at the main entrance to the airport
2- Expansion and renovations on the departure terminal
3- Construction of one top level departure terminal which can accommodate a least 500 extra people
4- A new building to house x-ray machines meant to scan the luggage of new arrivals
5- Rehabilitation of the quarters used to search people before departures
6- New building to be used by passengers on Transit.
7- Two new buildings to be used as water reservoirs.
8- The installation of new Sky-light roofing for all terminals.
9- Renovation of VIP Area
10- Newly constructed Lavatories to be used by visitors escorting or waiting for the relatives outside the airport
11- New boards and signs meant to aid people with directions inside the airport.
12- Two Backup electrical generators machines installed.
13- The introduction of new identification cards for all airport staff
14- The broadcasting of flights schedules for all incoming and outgoing flights through a loud speaker announcements.
15- The installation of water tanks and piping system meant to water the Airport gardens.
16- New terminal seats and offices
17- Free access to internet facilities to be used by passengers while waiting to board their flights
18- Deployment of hand held VGF Radio communication system to be used by airport staff
19- New gardens meant to beautify the airport landscape
20- Concrete and security reinforcements at all terminal areas
