Mahama, Erdogan cut sod for Terminal 3 project at KIA

President Mahama yesterday cut sod for the construction of a new terminal 3 at the Kotoka International Airport with the visiting Turkish president Recep Erdogan.

President Mahama described the project as “transformation project.”

The new terminal will accommodate 5million travellers a year, 1250 passengers an hour, six boarding air bridges, according to the president.

He added, “Already, KIA is the preferred choice of many airlines and with the completion of the project, KIA will be the most preferred aviation destination in West Africa.”

The project is financed from credit raised by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority on its own balance sheet with no sovereign guarantee or public charge to its debt stock, the president said.

A Turkish company, MAPA Construction and Trade Company, is the main contractor.

On his part, Erdoğan said his country was happy to be associated with the project.

“I believe that with the Terminal 3, Accra will be able to connect to the world in future,” he stated.

President Erdogan said Turkey is determined to strength trade ties with Ghana at a joint press briefing with president John Mahama at the Flagstaff House.

“Ghana is still Turkey’s number four trade partner in the sub-Saharan Africa region,” he said.“Last year’s trade volume between Turkey and Ivory Coast was $400 million. Our goal is to boost this to $1 billion by 2020,” he added.“Ghana is one of our closest friends in West Africa,” Erdogan said.“In recent years we have been writing a bold new chapter in the history of our bilateral relations with Ghana. We see Ghana as our partner in development,” he said.“Our goal is to expand our mutual cooperation in the political, military, economic, cultural, trade, and diplomatic areas”.

Erdogan also told Ghana's parliament that he is hoping to inspire investment in both Ghana and Turkey when he meets the business community. He encouraged Ghanaian businessmen to come and do business in Turkey.

He said :“Myself and John Mahama we will be meeting the business community and we will be hoping to inspire them to invest in the two countries. The Turkish investors will be further encouraged to come here and invest in Ghana. Similarly the Ghanaian businessmen are further encouraged to come and do business in Turkey and they can go ahead to join forces and invest in other countries to yield bountiful results.”