Current Artistic Impression of Bugesera International Airport (BIA)
The initial design for Bugesera International Airport has been revised for extension and quality purposes to give the airport a more world-class stand.
The decision to expand the airport, was revealed by President Paul Kagame during a press conference on Friday, December 14, 2018.
In September 2016, Government of Rwanda signed a deal with Portuguese firm Mota Engil Engenharia e Construcao Africa – a Portuguese firm to deliver this airport facility.
Construction has been planned in phases. The first Phase will cost $418 million, initially scheduled for completion by December 2019.
After this phase, extension works will be undertaken worth $400 million, bringing the total cost of the project to $818 million to handle 4.5 million passengers annually.
According to President Kagame, “The design was all over with what we wanted to do and then later on there was a reason we wanted to make improvement, meaning improvement in design and quality and even expand it,” he said during a press conference.
“But the works started. The restructuring, redesign is happening as works also go on. The contractor is on ground with everything except a few things,” the President added.
Asked whether the airport will be completed on time, President Kagame, without specifying the exact date for completion of the airport, said he is optimistic it will be done soon.
“We should be doing well with the airport soon. I don’t need to state the exact time but it is not too long. I don’t want to bias the contractors. I don’t want to state the time and then they say we could have done that in a short time but the President thinks it should be this long, so let’s take this long. That is why I am not stating the time. But it is in a good way. It is going well. It is a sure project,” Kagame said.
In June this year – after President Paul Kagame laid a foundation stone for the construction of the airport, engineers on ground said the project’s value cost was at 14.8% when KT Press went to visit the site.
