Rwanda signs $818m deal for new international airport

According to Engineering News, Rwanda has signed a deal with the African division of Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil to build an international airport at a cost of $818-million. The first phase would cost $418-million and is expected to start in June next year and be completed by December 2018.

“The first phase is for 1.7-million passengers a year capacity and it gets all infrastructure associated for $418-million,” Mota-Engil Africa CEO Manuel Antonio Mota said on Thursday after signing an agreement with government officials.

Mota-Engil will operate the airport for 25 years, with an option to extend another 15 years.

When it first sought bids, the government said the first phase would involve building passenger and cargo terminals and a 4.2-km runway to handle large commercial airplanes, while the second phase would be for a second runway and more terminals.

Mota-Engil said the second phase costing $400-million was expected to raise the airport’s handling capacity to 4.5-million passengers a year.

“Bugesera International Airport is coming in at the time when it is badly needed because we all know that the current airport capacity is not matching the growth of our traffic in terms of aircrafts, in terms of passengers,” James Musoni, Rwanda‘s minister for infrastructure, said.

Rwanda expects its economy to grow 6% this year and 2017 and then 6.5% in 2018.