Lomé to make Niamtougou airport a reference in terms of cargo traffic to hinterland countries

Logistics

Wednesday, 14 November 2018 17:14

Lomé to make Niamtougou airport a reference in terms of cargo traffic to hinterland countries

(Togo First) - In line with its goal to become one of West Africa’s leading airport hubs, Togo’s government plans to make the country’s second airport, the Niamtougou airport, “a reference platform for airport logistics, especially for cargo traffic to hinterland countries”.

According to authorities, this will be achieved through the rehabilitation and modernization of facilities as well as upgrading the infrastructure’s standards to meet international standards.

As said earlier, the country aims to boost its passenger and freight traffic. For example, with Lomé’s new terminal, passengers’ traffic is expected to double from 750,000 in 2016 to 1,500,000 per year by 2022. As for freight, it is expected to grow from 12,000 tons to 24,000 tons per year.

To achieve this, the government plans to increase the number of destinations served from Lomé and services provided by the nation’s two airports, respectively the Gnassingbé Eyadema International Airport in the South and the Niamtougou Airport, in the North, around 450km from Lomé and not far from Kara.

Leveraging on Africa’s new open sky policy, Lomé intends to “pursue and reinforce efforts to sign agreements with international airlines to connect them to Lomé’s airport”.

According to the government, private sector will be the main driver of this process, in line with its 2018-2022 national development plan.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

REFORMS OVERVIEW

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At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

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Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

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In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

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PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togo’s public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

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