IMPROVEMENT TO REGIONAL AIRPORTS

The project involves the rehabilitation and improvement of the existing facilities of five regional airports in Tanzania: Bukoba, Kigoma, Tabora, Shinyanga and Sumbawanga.

The project is expected to stimulate investment in the area, create jobs and thus enhance income levels, boost commerce and trade with neighbouring areas, attract tourism and increase social and economic interactions at the airports. The project benefits also include an overall increase in aviation safety as the five airports will comply with international safety and security standards.

Updated on 16 September 2011. In accordance with the requirements of the Tanzanian Environmental Impact and Audit Regulations, 2005, full EIAs, including public consultation, were carried out for each of the airports to be financed under the project. At Bukoba and Sumbawanga, the assessment showed that a small number of households needed to be relocated. This has already been completed at Bukoba under a Resettlement Action Plan approved by the World Bank. A similar plan will be prepared for Sumbawanga. An Environmental Management Plan has been developed for each of the airports and mitigation measures where required will be implemented accordingly. The Promoter is to carry out noise modeling at each of the airports as a condition to the financing. For Kigoma, the published EIA reflects a larger project than will be implemented under this financing. It was based on a Boeing 737 operation while the agreed project is to be based on an ATR72 operation, requiring a shorter runway. Therefore the impacts, and most notably the social impacts, will be less than reported in the EIA published earlier, and on that basis is acceptable to the EIB.

It is understood that the Promoter has a robust procurement policy and publishes procurement notices in a way that attracts wide international attention from the relevant markets. This policy, the degree to which it observes the principles and mechanisms of the EU Directives and the Promoter’s procurement schedule for the project will be reviewed during appraisal.