Contrary to widely held impression that former President John Dramani Mahama’s administration engineered the ultra-modern terminal three (3) a leading Communicator of the governing New patriotic Party (NPP) Yaw Opoku Mensah Jnr thinks otherwise.
He has revealed that the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration only did 20% of the work but the chunk was done by current President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who deserves on the credit.
Challenging claims made by the NDC about projects it engineered and completed before exiting power on January 7, 2017 he stated categorically that a lot of the projects initiated by the Mahama-led administration were never completed.
Asked by Kwame Adinkra of who should be credited for the terminal 3 project he said “Someone did 20% and another 80%. Mahama did 20% and Akufo-Addo and the NPP government completed the rest”
According to him, if they had allowed the NDC to complete the project, the amount of money sunk into it would have far exceeded what was budgeted.
The Kotoka International Airport terminal 3 became fully operational on September 15, 2018
The new terminal built at the cost of $278 million handles up to five million passengers a year, with an 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.
The facility hold a large retail and commercial area, three business lounges, six fixed links and seven air bridges expandable to eight, and parking space with the capacity to handle more than 700 cars.
The airport expansion supports the government’s ambition to make Ghana a regional aviation hub.
KIA’s Terminal 3 is a monumental feat of engineering. It has five levels spread across 45,000 square meters and has parking space for 700 cars.
It has six contact stands for Code E aircraft and two remote stands.