Bahrain Airshow: Sudan signs contract for Phase 2 of new airport

The contract was for phase two of the $1.38 billion project to develop a brand new airport called Khatoum New International Airport (KNIA) 45km outside the Sudanese capital.

The new airport will replace the existing two million passenger capacity airport with a 4.5 million capacity terminal and a 4,000 metre runway. Construction on the 102square km site will begin in May with China Harbour Engineering as the main contractor.  It will be complete in July 2015.

Project engineering director, Fatima Abdullatif, signed the contract with Zhang Wenfeng from China Harbour Engineering for phase two of the project which will see the capacity grow to 12million with a second 3,200m runway.

“Khartoum is the centre of Africa,” said consultant Mohamed Hassan Elmugamer. “It used to be a main transit point but we lost the opportunity. Now is the chance to get back. The roads and highways are already in place.”

The $700million first phase is being financed by the Chinese national bank through a loan to the Sudan government. Arrangements for the second phase are under negotiation.

“There are lot of opportunities,” said Abdullatif. “We want the private sector to get involved in the project in areas such as cargo and MRO. Now is the time to be talking.”

PICTURED: China Harbour’s Zhang Wenfeng and KNIA’s Fatima Abdullatif exchange contract documents at the show yesterday.