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Ghana’s Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia commissioned the second phase of Tamale International airport in northern Ghana on 22 August. 

The US$70 million project was constructed by the UK subsidiary of Brazil contractor Queiroz Galvao and was co-financed by a £43.8 million (US$55.7 million) loan from UK Export Finance, in which Germany’s KfW IPEX-Bank was also involved.  

Work commenced in July 2019 and included the construction of a 5,000-square-metre terminal building with a capacity of 400,000 passengers a year along with a VIP lounge, two boarding gates, two self-service check-in kiosks, eight check-in desks, airline offices, commercial retail areas and a car park that can accommodate 330 cars.

A new multi-purpose terminal was also built, which was completed in 2022, and transported hajj pilgrims during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in 2022 and 2023.

A new 5-kilometre road network off the Tamale-Bolgatanga road was also constructed to facilitate easy accessibility to the airport.

According to the Ghana Airports Company, the phased development of the Tamale airport is part of a plan to make the facility an alternate airport to Kotoka International airport – located in the south in the capital Accra – with the capability to handle wide-body aircraft in emergency situations.

“This project is expected to provide an impetus for increased economic trading activities and reinforce the status of Tamale as a sub-Saharan airport for flights to and from West African countries in the Sahel region,” said Vice-President Bawumia at the commissioning. 

“The government [also] intends to use the Tamale airport to support the programmes of the Northern Development Authority of Ghana to harness fresh agricultural produce for export to other parts of the world. The boost in agriculture will be leveraged to support the development of agro-based industries in northern Ghana.”

“Phase 2 [consisted of] four separate projects [that] cost a total of US$70 million. This compares to the US$130 million of phase 1 [comprising three projects].”

Ghana has six operational airports, with the Kotoka and Tamale airports currently operating international flights.

According to Ghana Airports Company, the country recorded an annual throughput of 852,101 domestic passengers and 1.8 million international passengers in 2022. This compares with 722,721 domestic passengers and 1.3 million international passengers in 2021. 

Photo: New Terminal Building at Tamale Airport (Ghana Airport Company Limited)