Work on an Aviation Air Navigation Services Centre in Accra to assist pilots and engineers in air traffic management is about 92 per cent complete.
The state-of-the-art project, which is being carried out by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), would be the second largest after South Africa’s Navigation Centre.
Reporters learnt this when they joined a team from the Ministry of Transport that paid a monitoring visit to the project site to ascertain progress of work.
Briefing the media, the Deputy Director-General, Technical (GCAA), Daniel Acquah, said Ghana was the fore runner which had set a good example for many other navigation service providers.
He said the project was necessary due to the nature of aviation industry and also for safety of passengers.
Mr Acquah explained that aviation work had expanded and needed a facility or a technology that could accommodate more sophisticated equipment in order to be efficient in directing or managing air traffic.
“The old one is just about okay but looking at the future and more especially for the fact that the GCAA is about to be decoupled into two separate entities. It used to be one but was decoupled first in 2007 to have the Airport Company and now airport operations have become efficient,” he said.
He, however, expressed worry about the incompletion of the project, saying, “The project which began in 2017 had come to a standstill due to lack of funds as the company would need about $10 million to complete it.”
Mr Aquah cited COVID-19 as one of the major challenges that had had negative impact on the Authority’s finances and hindered the completion of the project.
“The pandemic had effect on our finances, the airport was shut down and even when it was opened, travelling was done in batches and we generate revenue mainly from travels and navigation of the airspace,” he said.
According to him, most of the equipment had been installed but few works needed to be done.
The project consultant, Mr Alex Akoto Bamfo, was optimistic that the project would be completed next year, to help monitor and assist air traffic engineers in their work.
He said the project would have air navigation systems, voice control system, stimulators, and indicators among other facilities to aid in an efficient and effective work delivery.
BY AGNES OPOKU SARPONG
