President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to construct airstrips in all regions that do not have airports to support emergency travel and medical evacuations.
He said the initiative will provide landing sites for aircraft in regions currently without such facilities, to improve response during emergencies.
The President made the announcement when chiefs from the Western North Region paid a courtesy call on him.
He said Western North, which has no commercial airport, will be among the regions to benefit.
According to the President, regions that already have airports will not be part of the project, while those without airports will get airstrips of about two kilometres long with a small control office to enable aircraft to land when needed.
He said the project was aimed at ensuring that no region was cut off when there was the need for urgent air transport, particularly for medical evacuations.
“We are going to provide an airstrip in every region that does not already have an airport. Sometimes there are emergencies and sometimes medical evacuations are necessary. At the moment, some regions do not have landing sites for aircraft,” he said.
He added: “Regions that already have airports are covered, but those without airports will receive landing strips.
They will be about two kilometres long and will have a small control office so that aircraft can land in the region in an emergency. Western North will be one of the beneficiaries.”
