Turkey starts work on modernising Mogadishu airport

By ABDULKADIR KHALIF Nation Correspondent

Posted Sunday, December 18 2011 at 19:11

MOGADISHU, Sunday

Turkey has started work to modernise Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport.

Nine Turkish experts have been engaged in the setting up of a modern control tower from which all flights over Somalia’s territory would be monitored.

“Mogadishu’s airport operates under the old system and is mainly used by aircraft from Kenya,” said Mr Aydin Sarik, the head of the Turkish team.

Mr Sarik told journalists on Saturday that Turkish planes will start flights to Mogadishu after the airport’s infrastructure and systems are raised to world standards.

“It will ease the delivery of humanitarian assistance and development aid,” he said.

For nearly a year, a Dubai-based private company has been handling the airport services in Mogadishu.

SKA Air & Logistics officials have stated in the past that the company had plans to modernise the airport, named after Somalia’s first president, Aden Abdulle.

In late November, during a two-day visit to Mogadishu, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag officiated a number of projects his country would implement in Mogadishu.

Immediately after landing in Somalia, Mr Bozdag laid the foundation stones for a modern tower and a fortified perimeter wall to improve the airport’s security.

During a visit to Mogadishu in August, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that his country would implement multiple projects in Somalia, including in infrastructure and social services.

via Turkey starts work on modernising Mogadishu airport  – Africa |nation.co.ke.