Senegal’s new €525-million International Blaise Diagne Airport officially opened yesterday (Thursday).
The construction of the airport, co-financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), will improve regional connectivity, drive down the costs of transportation, and grow the country’s economy, according to AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina.
“The state-of-the-art airport will be a catalyst for the emergence of small and medium enterprises, attract regional and foreign investments, and boost Senegal’s tourism potential,” he said.
The airport includes a 42 000-sqm passenger terminal and a 12 800-sqm cargo terminal designed to handle 50 000 tons of cargo and 80 000 aircraft movements annually.
AfDB spokesperson, Olivia Ndong Obiag, pointed out that 3000 local jobs had been created during the construction phase as well as 427 full-time jobs in the airport’s operational phase. In the next few years the airport expects additional jobs to be created in engineering, maintenance, information technologies and security.
“The new airport brings us closer to winning the West African aviation connectivity and logistics hub battle,” added AfDB Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation vice president, Pierre Guislain.
