New international airport for Accra

The Ghanaian government has acquired land for the construction of a new airport at Ningo-Prampram in the rural Dangme West district of the greater Accra region, to replace the existing Kotoka International Airport (KIA) which is struggling to deal with its current amount of air traffic according to transport minister Dzifa Ativor.

The government has secured over 3,200 hectares and is in the process of negotiating the purchase of a further 3,200 hectares for the proposed airport, located in the city's green belt, north-east of Accra and its neighbouring town Tema.

Ativor says that the terminal buildings at the city-centre KIA are "always congested" and that there is never enough parking space for aircraft.

She said that Accra deserves a better international airport and that the government would be undertaking feasibility studies shortly. Neither the cost nor the timeline of the project have been revealed but the minister said that construction work would take place "very soon".

She also spoke of plans to establish a national airline as part of the government's plans to transform Accra into "the hub of West Africa."

The troubled Ghana Airways ceased operations in 2004 after going into liquidation.

One year ago, ten people were killed when a cargo aircraft skidded off the runway at KIA and crashed into a mini-bus near Accra’s El-Wak stadium.