The Upper West region is the eighth region to be visited by President John Mahama on the ticket of this tour.
President Mahama said the Ghana Airport Company will establish the temporary airport by the airstrip in Wa whilst they look for a permanent site to build one.
“We want to start commercial flights to Wa. And so I asked the Ghana Airport Company to see what work they can do to let commercial flights start as soon as possible. So they identified the block that is that is next to the airstrip. They are rehabilitating it to develop it into a terminal so that they can start using that temporarily while we look for a site to build a new airport for Wa”.
The President assured that until a permanent site is identified and acquired for the airport they will equip the temporary airport with all the necessary items needed to run it. He said “in the mean time we are going to engineer this airstrip so that commercial flights can come in and out while we look at developing a permanent site for a new airport for Wa”.
For now, there is only one airport (Tamale airport) that serves the three regions of the north. But government had earlier assured The National Hajj Board has hinted it has been given the clearance to fly Muslim pilgrims for the 2016 Hajj direct from the Tamale Airport.
In previous years Muslim pilgrims from the three regions of the north had to travel to the Kotoka International Airport in Accra before they could fly to the Saudi Arabia capital, Mecca. This caused the pilgrims to face a lot of challenges even before they embarked on their journey to Mecca. This year it is expected that Muslims will start leaving Ghana to Mecca by the end of August.
President Mahama said the airport “should be finished by the end of August and so we expect that by September if the airlines are ready they can start flying”.
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
