COMPLETION of the $150 million Chinese-funded refurbishment of the Victoria Falls International Airport will be delayed by three months after the contractor requested an extension, civil aviation officials have said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) expected the all the project works to be completed by June next year.
The three storey international terminal building was scheduled for a November completion while a new four kilometre runway is slated for December.
The project will also see the upgrading the domestic terminal building, construction of a new fire station, water plant, control tower and installation of state –of–the art aviation equipment.
But site engineer Owen Nyama told The Source during a tour of the facility that the contractor, China Jiangsu, had requested that the deadline be extended by three months.
“The terminal building is now 45 percent complete but the contractor has claimed three months extension. That has not been officially awarded but we thought you need to know and we are hoping we could be done in July,” he said.
Airport manager Ronny Masawi said the new-look airport would handle more than 1,7 million passengers annually, up from the current 500,000 and would process wide-bodied aircraft.
Engineers say the eight-layer runway is almost complete, with the two final layers being laid out.
The expansion work is being carried out by China Jiangsu and funded by China Exim Bank.
The parking area is also being extended to allow parking of five wide body aircraft at any given time while the taxiways linking the new runway to the old terminal have been surfaced.
Outside parking area will also be extended, while the entrance will be moved to about 800 metres towards Victoria Falls Town.Advertisement