The Ashanti Region Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, says by the middle of next year, the region will see the completion of a “proper” international airport.

He insinuated that what is now in the regional capital, Kumasi, only exists in nomenclature.

Speaking at the Nation Building Updates at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences on Tuesday, November 10, Mr. Mensah said: “We are now building a proper international airport for which we are expanding the runaway by another 200 meters.

“That is what we call an international airport,” he said.

Work to upgrade the Kumasi Airport to international standard was started under the John Mahama-led administration.

The then-president Mahama made a symbolic first landing with the presidential jet from Abuja, Nigeria, where he had attended the 46th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

His arrival at the airport was said to give it international status.

After work on Phase One completed in 2014, then President Mahama later cut sod in December 2016 for expansion works to begin.

But President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also cut sod in 2018 for the Phase 2 project.

That is expected to be completed in 2021, Mr. Osei Mensah said, to receive international flights directly.

This, he termed, “a proper international airport not an airport by the nomenclature”.

He also outlined some achievements by the current government in the region, including the redesigning of the New Edubiase Stadium to meet FIFA requirements.