By Napoleon Ato Kittoe
The rehabilitated Kumasi airport has officially been inaugurated. It is now named Prempeh I International Airport. The recreation of the facility came with a modern terminal building and an extended tarmac to accommodate large aircraft. Long before this stage of airport redevelopment, some international airlines had expressed interest in doing direct flights to Kumasi, in the interiors of Ghana.
Ghana’s quest to take to the trappings of middle income economies has succeeded in ticking one more item away. Most of the globe’s emerging economies have all their cities linked by air.
Kumasi, nicknamed the “Garden City” is the Ashanti regional capital and the second largest city of Ghana.
The State is doing everything possible to improve conditions in Kumasi, thus over the last 10 or more years the city has seen a construction boom. Prempeh I International Airport, adds cultural flavor to the modernized facility.
Modernity laced with traditions pervades the Ashanti region, and the attachment of the 13th King of Ashanti to it shows that it is a place where salient ancient elements are retained within transformation. Works on the airport project straddled governments.
Though it was established in 1943, the most serious attempt to upgrade the airport was in 1993. The main initiative to expand the Kumasi airport was in 2014. A government left office and the process of airport renewal was continued by the succeeding government.
Everything snowballs to a runway of 2,380 metres, from 1,981, an estimated annual volume of 800,000 passengers to the hub, and facilities of international standards.
Reports say, the present Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II was instrumental in securing this advantage for Kumasi. Governance is a continuum, and that is an operational tool for the point where President Akufo Addo comes into the picture. We are told his government modified the expansion plan for the airport. The project was executed by a British firm.
