On 3rd of September 2016, the Rwandan government signed a deal with a Portuguese firm Mota-Engil to start a preliminary venture of $418 million on the building of new international airport in Bugesera western province of Rwanda.
Upon completion, this project will be a very big boost to the tourism industry dominated by Gorilla Trekking and other tours to various destinations.
The contract was engaged on Thursday, costing preliminary venture of
$418 million however the overall price of the airport is expected to increase to $800 million, according to the CEO of Mota Engil Africa MR Manuel Mota.
The original facility is set to be disclosed in December 2018 and this will supplement Kigali international airport which has lately realized a surge on the number of passengers.
Current statistics show 6 percentage growths in number of passengers at Kigali international airport from the month of January to a November in 2015 as equated to the same month in 2014. The airport served 569,182 passengers, beyond 2014 statistics by more than 11000.
Direct flights to Rwanda international airport begun in 2012 by Turkish Airlines –Turkey’s national flag carrier therefore making Rwanda join the developing list of airlines.
The decision to have another airport positions Rwanda on a higher level with its national peers like Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Tanzania which concentrated on rehabilitation of their main airports as hunger for tourists to the Eat African countries develops.
According to the contract, Mota-Engil will finance and run the construction of the new airport for a period of 25 years and the other optional of 15 years extension.
The construction of the new airport will improve Rwanda’s economic growth and development and help as an entrance to the external world.it will ease trade and investment and act as pivot for Rwanda’s growth strategy and many other related commercial airlines serving within the region.
Bugesera which is tom become Rwanda’s biggest airport is located 25 kilometers southeast of Kigali town. The airport is to have 4.2 runways with the initial capacity to hold three million passengers per year and the estimated number of passenger’s it will handle is 4,5 million annually.
Rwanda’s tourism disclosed 3 percent surge in number of visitors coming to Rwanda in 2014,with the number increasing from 1.144 million visitors the former year to 1.2 million visitors of which a half of these visitors are from Europe.