Uganda : CAA unveils plan to upgrade airfields

By Tabu Butagira, The Monitor.

Sep 2, 2005 (Kampala) — Arua, Mbarara, Jinja, Gulu, Tororo and Kasese airfields have been earmarked for major expansion and refurbishment by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) this financial year to elevate them to modern standards.

Mr Ignie Igundura, the CAA Spokesman, said on August 29, that eligibility and the preferred nature of up-grading suitable for each of the six selected up-country airdromes will depend on availability of money and their individual performance/viability.

Daily Monitor has learnt that the aviation watchdog plans to start the infrastructure developments works with Arua airfield, which is more strategic – both in location terms and business potential.

“Arua airfield, according to last year’s (CAA) data handled an average of eight aircraft movements and is the second busiest [in the country] after Entebbe International Airport,” said Igundura.

Arua is located at the border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and until the recent creation of the new Koboko border district, it provided a dual international access corridor to both DRC and the Sudan Republic. Koboko has since taken the latter position.

This strategic border location makes it a prime investment destination since the place has the potential to transform into a regional hub serving the vast DRC, Sudan and in-land Uganda.

Clients

According to aviation operators in the area, most of their clients are tourists, staff of NGOs and multi-national companies, consultants, businessmen/women and top government bureaucrats.

The air journey also boomed during the turbulent times of Joseph Kony’s heydays when his LRA bandits would stage horrific raids on West Nile – bound traffic in the thickets of the much-dreaded Murchison falls National Park. During this time, travelling by road proved more precarious and those who could muster extra funds opted to use planes for safety reasons.

Arua town, the de facto regional capital for West Nile, is about 520 kilometres northwest of the capital Kampala and a journey to the district from the city on average takes between 7-8 hours by the multiple passenger buses that ply the route daily.

Now, CAA plans to erect a new terminal building in Arua, extend the 1,800-metre runway and upgrade it from gravel surface to bitumen standards. It also plans to widen the car par k and build new staff quarters, so that the employees are resident nearby the airfield and readily available on demand unlike now where they stay far away.

This development will be a great relief to pilots who have been having a nightmare to land in Arua, especially during or after heavy downpour since the landing track becomes too slippery, causing planes to skid off and veer into the bushy surrounding.

In one recent incident, an aircraft failed to land and had to return to base in Entebbe after the pilot reportedly failed to locate the runway due to hazy cloud yet visual-aid devices like Automatic direction finder are lacking at the airdrome facility.

Igundura said they are making projections for at least 10 years ahead because they anticipate that by that time, the type and nature of aircrafts using Arua airfield would have changed. Already, a new 19-seater and pressurised Bukasa airplane has begun operating a route chart to Arua.

The other active air transport operators along the Entebbe – Arua route are; Eagle Air, which has two flight schedules each day and United Airlines that is also regular. West Nile air and Challenge Air companies that opened business with a pomp here last year have since folded for yet unclear reasons.

With three airliners running daily schedules to the district, Arua airfield is a teaming up-country destination yet the infrastructure is far from modest.

Besides, the landing field also receives and handles other private charter flights, UN planes and Mission Aviation Fellowship (Maf) flights.

Poor state

But as the airfield heaves with aircrafts, its infrastructure is very miserable and the 1.8km long runway is still gravel surfaced and accident prone, especially during rainy season.

Additionally, the air field has no landing lights and lacks key aviation devices such as Instrument Landing System, Automatic Direction Finder and Very high Omni-directional Range, which help the flight pilot manoeuvre the plane to safe landing even during a visibility hitch.

Yet each time a plane touches down in any of the airdromes, sources say the operator pays CAA $25 (about Shs45,000), a payment that Igundura denies.

But the CAA Spokesman says they are not waiting for a terrible mishap to occur at the airfield before these latent risk factors are addressed.

“We have a big programme to upgrade these up-country airdromes, starting with Arua but it is money that is holding us back. The government is supposed to give this money but we as CAA, will this financial year, start doing the work (with our own resources) and we have a way of negotiating it with the central government,” he said.

Daily Monitor has learnt that to open and sustain aviation business in Uganda, a prospective investor has to stake and annually maintain $10,000 (about Shs18m) as performance bond (risk insurance) with CAA.

The investor will have to pay an additional Shs1.5 million to acquire aircraft operating certificate, both of which are struck out if one defaults on any.