Intercity flights within the country will be suspended by Friday July 8 if authorities fail to retrieve lands belonging to the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) at Adenta (La Nkwantanang) and Labadi (La Wireless), by the deadline given, spokesperson for the staff of GCAA William Amoako has revealed.
“On Friday (July 8) we are going to withdraw air traffic services, which is one of our major service provisions. We will not provide those services to the local airlines. So, it means you cannot travel by air to Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale, Sunyani or any other place,” he said on Tuesday July 5.
He explained to Class FM’s Nabil Ahmed Rufai that lack of accessibility to those lands had stalled the installation of a €600,000 equipment purchased by the GCAA, which is rusting because land guards have taken away a site which belongs to the aviation body.
According to him, certain vital equipment needed for surveillance and flight safety could not be set up by engineers due to encroachment.
“This will have some implication on our work because the current system has aged and can come to a halt at any time. Our management has purchased a replacement, but we cannot have access to the lands,” he added.
He admitted that the management of the GCAA should have put in place measures to prevent encroachers, but added that authorities had some challenges.
Staff of the GCAA as part of measures to push for the release of the lands earmarked for aviation purposes, began a phased strike on Tuesday July 5 to Friday July 8.
During the first phase of the strike, there will be disruptions to services of the GCAA from the following sections as part of the road map toward securing the La Nkwantanang lands: Audit and Finance – no issuance of some cheques; AIS – no circulation of domestic NOTAM and flight plans; Drivers – no transport services after picking and dropping staff; Safety Regulations – no inspections; Exit and Procurement – no services to external clients.
These actions, the staff said, could result in flight disruptions at the Kotoko International Airport.
On June 21, the staff served notice of the intended strike over the encroachment and warned that the appropriation of lands reserved for aviation traffic purposes by private developers and politicians risked compromising aviation security and safety in Ghana.
In a statement released earlier, the staff said lands at Adenta (La Nkwantanang) and Labadi (La Wireless) meant to be developed into receiving and transmitting stations, respectively, had been appropriated for residential purposes, thus, exposing Ghana’s air transport safety and security to vulnerability.
“For months, HF equipment, purchased by GCAA, worth over 600,000 Euros for installation at La Nkwantanang to enhance communication are still in GCAA’s stores. Our engineers have been denied access to the site to make a preliminary preparation ahead of the arrival of their foreign counterparts due in the country on the 1st of July, 2016,” the statement said.
“Our inability to install the HF equipment, as well as other navigational equipment at the site, will have a dire consequence on aviation safety in Accra airspace. The control of aircraft over the Oceanic is seriously being hampered by this unfortunate situation.
“We are aware that the management of GCAA, as well as the Ministry of Transport, has made several appeals and has justified the need to, at least, give about 250 acres of the land back to GCAA, but all to no avail.
“We want to reiterate that if the said land is not released for the installation of this vital equipment, the system can shut down and we may not be able to provide Air Traffic Services over the ocean and other portions of the airspace. This will have safety and security implications for the country and the industry in general,” the staff warned.
Below is the first statement issued by the staff about two weeks ago:
AIRCRAFT SAFETY UNDER THREAT
The staff of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) wish to bring to the notice of the general public the likelihood of our inability to provide Air Traffic Services in the Accra Flight Information Region (FIR – Accra Airspace) due to unavailability of land for the installation of vital safety equipment for Communication, Surveillance, and other Navigational Aids.
Two parcels of land were acquired for Aviation development and expansion at Adenta (La Nkwantanan) and Labadi (La Wireless) for use as receiving and transmitting stations respectively, and for future aviation development and expansion.
In 2007, the government at the time forcefully took over part of the Wireless lands for residential purposes leaving only a fraction for aviation development. Today the AU village is now a private gated housing community.
Under the current government, almost the whole of the La Nkwantanan land, between Madina and Adanta, has been taken over by “the powers that be” for non-Aviation developments. These lands are currently under the control of private developers and investors, putting commercial interest over Aviation safety and development.
These actions of politicians in the last 10 years have been detrimental to the Aviation industry and have the tendency to erode all the gains achieved by the country in Aviation.
For months, HF equipment purchased by GCAA worth over 600,000 Euros for installation at La Nkwantanan to enhance communication are still in GCAA’s stores. Our engineers have been denied access to the site to make a preliminary preparation ahead of the arrival of their foreign counterparts due in the country on the 1st July, 2016.
Our inability to install the HF equipment, as well as other navigational equipment at the site will have a dire consequence on aviation safety in Accra airspace. The control of aircraft over the oceanic is seriously being hampered by this unfortunate situation.
We are aware that, the management of GCAA, as well as the ministry of Transport, has made several appeals, and has justified the need to; at least, give about 250 acres of the land back to GCAA, but all to no avail.
We want to reiterate that if the said land is not released for the installation of this vital equipment, the system can shut down and we may not be able to provide Air Traffic Services over the ocean and other portions of the airspace. This will have safety and security implications for the country and the industry in general.
It is against the backdrop of such improper encroachment and/or virtual annexing and grabbing of government acquired lands intended for aviation use that the Ghana Air Traffic Controllers Association (GHATCA), Ghana Air Traffic Safety Electronics Association (GhATSEA), the Ghana Aeronautical Information Services Association (GHAISA), Aviation Safety Inspectors Association of stakeholders of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, express our displeasure and indignation with the current development on the La-Nkwantang land.
In the light of the above, we are appealing to the government and all other parties to get the La Nkwantanan land back to GCAA as a matter of urgency.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com/100.5fm
