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Aviation Minister says the loan facility secured for the Kotoka International Airport’s Terminal 3 project had a very high-interest rate which has prevented the Ghana Airports Company Ltd (GACL) from taking on other projects.
According to Joseph Kofi Adda, the cost in putting up the Kotoka International Airport’s (KIA’s) Terminal 3 project is strangulating the Ghana Airports Company by preventing it from taking up more projects.
Mr Adda said “…in the recent past, we have had exaggerated or bloated cost and the use of expensive money to carry out the project. In some cases, we’ve had a very high-interest rate on loan such as the loan used for the Terminal 3 construction.”
He was speaking at the sod cutting ceremony for the construction of a new headquarters for the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority as well as the Kotoka International Airport’s Northern Apron project.
He said, “the interest rate of 8.5% at the time was very high and now a few years later we still have the effect of what one might say amounted to the strangulating of the Ghana Airports Company by preventing it from taking up more projects freely as its revenues are being held in escrow to serve and retire the loan.”
“The government had to renegotiate it to 5% which is still not enough and so we continue to look for ways to bring it down even lower,” he stated.
Mr Adda urged, “The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, to ensure that the public purse is adequately protected at all times as directed by His Excellency the President.”
The Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport became fully operational on September 15, 2018, following the completion of tests and simulation exercises.
The opening of the ultra-modern terminal saw hundreds of passengers in both arrival and departures departments of the terminal go through what many say is a rather smooth and stress-free procedure.
The $250 million T3 projects partly funded by the African Development Bank is to ease pressure on the existing two terminals expected to handle up to five million passengers a year, with expansion potential of up to 6.5 million passengers.
At peak hour, the terminal will have the capacity to process up to about 1,250 passengers. A fully automated baggage handling system will also handle 3,500 bags an hour.
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