By our Reporter
NATIONAL
The Minister for Works and Transport has today, 28th February, 2024 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a private investor to develop Arua Airport into an International Airport.
Gen. Wamala Katumba signed the MOU with M/s East of Eden at his Kampala office under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) Model.
BOT is a model used to finance large projects, typically infrastructure projects developed through Public-Private Partnerships.
The BOT scheme refers to the initial concession by a public entity such as a local government to a private firm to both build and operate the project in question. After a set time frame, typically two or three decades, control of the project is returned to the public entity.
Katumba also revealed that the MOU was signed after the approval by the Solicitor General and M/S East of Eden is to undertake a feasibility study.
Arua is the second busiest domestic airport in the country after Entebbe, with a monthly average of 180 air traffic movements. Presently, Eagle Air operates scheduled flights with a 19- seater aircraft. Ad hoc and charter flights are also operated by Mission Aviation Fellowship, United Nations, AIM Air, Samaritan Purse and Kampala Aero Club and Flight Training Centre.
