FOR YOUR INFORMATION: $350 MILLION AIRPORT PLANNED NEAR SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK! MWANZA, Tanzania – The envisaged construction of a $350 million Serengeti airport, close to the Serengeti National Park is still going ahead despite criticisms from a cabinet minister. Last week, the MP for Serengeti Constituency (CCM) Dr Stephen Kebwe confirmed to East African Business Week that all plans for the construction of the airport are on and could start soon. “We met the main stakeholders in the project, Grumeti Reserve Company a week ago to finalize issues ready for the construction,” Dr Kebwe said. He is also Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare. Dr Kebwe said compensation has been paid to those who would be affected by the airport construction and now it’s mobilizing equipment ready to the site. The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) and the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC) have approved the project. Reacting to the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Lazaro Nyalandu’s comments that the airport would disturb the ecosystem of Serengeti National Park, Dr Kebwe replied: “I guess the Minister was misquoted.” “I learnt from a section of the media that Minister Nyalandu was responding to questions from a Kenyan journalist, it might be he was misquoted, but the government position is that the airport must be constructed,” Dr Kebwe said. Dr Kebwe substituted the concerns raised by various people and NGOs that that is due to trade competition in the tourism industry. One of the most competitive businesses in East Africa. The planned a $350 million construction of an airport at Mugumu township is sponsored by an American billionaire, Tudor Jones. The American tycoon owns five-star luxurious lodges at Sasakwa Hill including three wildlife-rich hunting blocks of Ikoma, Grumeti and Ikorongo situated just 26 kilometres from the location of the planned airport. An NGO, “Friends of Serengeti” have joined other voices in the conservation community in denouncing the planned airport construction. On December 3, 2014 an NGO, “Save The Serengeti” wrote to this reporter: “We are aware that the government plans to build this airport at Mugumu, to be financed by Paul Tudor Jones. We were against this and favoured a bigger airport at Mwanza instead.” “But the last we heard is that all of the obstacles have been removed and that construction will start soon. As we understand, this will be a gravel airstrip with a building for immigration,” the NGO said. “Minister Nyalandu spoke against jets flying over the Serengeti but evidently this airport won’t service jet aircraft,” the NGO added. Minister Nyalandu’s fear is that such an airport would have a negative impact on the world’s greatest animal migration and that Serengeti is a Unesco Heritage Site. A day after Nyalandu’s comments, Dr Titus Kamani, the minister for Livestock Development and Fisheries told residents in Mugumu, Serengeti that the airport “must be constructed at any costs.” Another remarkable advantage of the envisaged airport is to cut short the tourist 280.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:23:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015