By CHATULA KANGALI –
ZAMBIA Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL) has submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the development of the Copperbelt International Airport in the Dag Hammarskjold area of Ndola.
ZACL plans to construct an international airport at a cost US$397 million at Dag Hammarskjold site located about 15 kilometres from Ndola’s Central Business District (CBD).
According to the updated EIA report on the Zambia Environmental Management Authority (ZEMA) website, the project will cover an area of 2,000 hectares.
The proposed airport will have a runway of about 3,500 metres at a slope of about 0.3 per cent with precision lighting system at both ends.
“The airport will service a number of routes including Johannesburg, Nairobi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) , Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania and domestic routes such as Lusaka, Solwezi and other destinations for chartered flights”,” ZACL report indicates.
The company states that apart from standard aviation facilities, the new airport would also have a shopping mall, an entertainment facility, restaurants, business cafes, banking services, health facility and fitness centres.
The project is expected. to have a lifespan of about 30 years.
