By Tony Barigye ,

Yesterday, after a tour at Kigali International Airport, Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi commended strides so far made in the development of the aviation sector by Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority.

“Compared to the past years, the current transformations achieved reveal the positive effort exerted which has translated into commendable work,” said the Prime Minister.
He said this after a power point presentation by Dr. Richard Masozera, Director General of RCAA, detailing the role of RCAA, construction projects underway on all airports and their stages, introduction and update of new technologies and progress of Bugesera International Airport.

In the presentation, Masozera revealed that the expansion at Kigali International airport will start in two months and be completed in 15 months.
The Prime Minister commended the creative way RCAA was utilizing the few facilities to attend to an increased passenger and cargo traffic but requested for increased pace on the construction activities.

Masozera, said that in addition to international traffic, RCAA has ongoing construction projects on upcountry airports of Kamembe and Gisenyi to alleviate the rise in domestic flight frequencies.
There has been a sharp increase in domestic flight frequencies from 2, 000 in 2007 to 40, 000 in 2011.

The projects include new terminal at Kamembe to be completed by July this year and runway expansion is in its preliminary stages.
On Bugesera International Airport project, Alexis Nzahabwanimana, the Minister of State for transport said that the project is well underway and a valuation study is in its final stages and expropriation exercise is yet to be completed in a period of two months.
Masozera highlighted the need for concerted capacity building in the aviation sector and employee retention strategies like better remunerations as some of the ways of sustaining highly knowledgeable human resource in the ever growing aviation sector.
To this, the Prime Minister said that the aviation sector is included in a government-devised capacity building strategy with special focus on key economic sectors like energy, health, infrastructure and mining.

The prime minister’s visit comes on the backdrop of a recent revelation by government to develop the aviation sector as a means of reaching numerous international markets that will help cushion the Rwandan economy from the seemingly escalating Euro crisis.