■ EGYPT: Finalized plan for new $20billion Cairo "airport city" development to be presented in April.

Planning for the construction of a new USD20billion "airport city" near Cairo International Airport is to be concluded come April reports from Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation state. The new development will be the first of three similar projects to be built in the capital, Alexandria (Burg Al Arab airport) and at Port Said airport.

■ ETHIOPIA: Works start on new $100mln Ethiopian Airlines MRO Hangar; new Cold Storage Cargo facility to come online shortly.

Ethiopian Airlines' (ET) Cargo and Maintenance divisions are to take a step closer to realizing their Vision 2025 objectives in the coming weeks following the launch of construction works for a new MRO hangar facility at Bole International Airport capable of housing Boeing 777s, 787s and 747s. Also on the cards is the upcoming inauguration of a USD3.4million (ETB63million) cold storage warehouse, due for completion shortly.

■ CONGO (KINSHASA): New national carrier to début in June as Government moves to recertify all Congolese carriers under IATA supervision.

Justin Kalunga, the Democratic Republic of Congo's Minster of Transport, says a new national airline has already been white-papered and approved by his government with a new strategic partner set to be chosen in due course. The new airline, due to take delivery of its first aircraft in June, will replace the current quasi-defunct national carrier, LAC Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (4V). The move is one of the initiatives the Congolese are undertaking to ameliorate the country's poor aviation safety record and international image.

■ COTE D'IVOIRE: Arab Contractors awarded $30mln contract to build new cargo terminal at Abidjan's international airport.

Egyptian construction firm, Arab Contractors, have signed a contract with the government of the Ivory Coast for USD30million for the upgrading of Abidjan's Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport's cargo facilities.

■ MOZAMBIQUE: Refurbishment and enlargement of Pemba Airport to take 6 months says AdM.

Work on the expansion of airport infrastructure and facilities at Pemba, a port and the capital of Cabo Delgado province in north eastern Mozambique, has commenced with completion expected in six months.

■ ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Aviation Academy undergoing $50mln expansion project.

The Ethiopian Aviation Academy currently undergoing a USD50million expansion in a bid to boost its enrolment capacity, as demand for basic and recurrent training programs from domestic and international customers remains strong.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: (Pics) Johannesburg's OR Tambo Int'l Airport set to embark on its "Aerotropolis East" initiative.

The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is said to be close to signing a partnership deal with development companies to expand the company's flagship facility, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg through the commercial development of airport land previously owned by arms manufacturer Denel. The prospect, too, of a new passenger terminal (OR Tambo Midfield Terminal) is also said to be in the "conceptualization" stage.

■ TOGO: Construction works at l’Aéroport Lomé-Tokoin nearing completion.

The upgrading and expansion of the Togolese capital, Lomé's, l’Aéroport International Gnassingbé Eyadèma (AIGE), also known as Lomé-Tokoin Airport, is progressing with work nearing 80% completion. The project, funded by the Chinese Export-Import Bank (ExIm Bank) to the tune of USD150million and using the China Airport Construction Group Corporation (CACC) and WIETEC, aims to transform Lomé into a "sub-regional transport hub."

■ NIGERIA: Kaduna Airport to be ready by April: FAAN

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says the Kaduna Airport remodelling project, located in the Northen Nigerian state of Kaduna, will be completed in three months. The airport was among the first 11 major domestic Nigerian airports scheduled for remodelling under the Nigerian Government's transformation programme.

■ MOZAMBIQUE: AdM looks to add hotels, restaurants to Maputo International as new Nacala Airport completion now due in late 2013.

Aeroportos de Moçambique (AdM), the company tasked with running Mozambique's major airports, has announced plans to build hotels, restaurants and catering facilities at Maputo International Airport, with the aim of transforming the renovated airport into a world-class facility.

■ KENYA: (Pics) A Look at Lamu's Manda Airstrip's old and new facilities set for completion in May 2013.

Construction works at Manda Airstrip, located on Manda Island in the Lamu Archipelago in eastern Kenya, are progressing with completion expected in May of this year. The upgraded 2'000m long runway and new terminal will allow tourists to fly directly to Lamu from their respective countries. At present, tourists arriving on international flights have to clear customs and immigration formalities at either Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, or Mombasa, or Malindi before flying into Lamu as a domestic flight.

■ TANZANIA: Construction of Terminal III Extension to Dar es Salaam's Julius Nyerere International Airport to finally go ahead?

Construction of the new Terminal III complex at Dar es Salaam's Julius Nyerere International (JNIA) Airport is set to proceed once a suitable qualified contractor has been found by the Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA).

■ ALGERIA: Construction of new Terminal at Algiers Houari Boumediene Airport set to begin in 2014.

The Algerian government has forged ahead with its previously mentioned plans of transforming Houari Boumediene International Airport in the Algerian capital, Algiers, into an international hub. In an interview with Algerian paper Tout sur l'Algérie, the airport's CEO Tahar Allache allured to a new terminal to be built by 2018 and which will accommodate 10 million passengers per year, in addition to extra-wide-bodies such as the Airbus A380.

■ ZAMBIA: Ambitious aviation infrastructure projects to pave the way for Zambia Airways 2.0?

According to reports in the Zambian press, the Government there is said to be considering various business models, necessary in setting up a rejuvenated national airline, almost 20 years after the liquidation of national carrier, Zambia Airways (QZ).

■ MALI: Renovated runway 06/24 at Bamako-Sénou International Airport handed over to AdM.

At a ceremony held last week and overseen by the Malian Minister of Facilities' Planning, Mamadou Coulibaly, and attended by the Ministers of Defense, Security, Communications, the Minister of Handicrafts and Tourism as well as the Minister responsible for Malians Abroad and African Integration, and various government bureaucrats, the capital Bamako's Sénou International Airport's newly renovated, reinforced and extended runway 06/24, was handed over to  Aéroports du Mali (AdM) for immediate operational use.

► ZIMBABWE: Minister admits new Victoria Falls Airport terminal will not be ready for UNWTO event.

Zimbabwean Minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructure Development, Nicholas Goche, has come clean on events surrounding the refurbishment and expansion of Victoria Falls Airport, set to be one of the main transit points (the other being at Livingstone, Zambia's Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport) for next year's United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly.

► ETHIOPIA: Bole International Airport expansion tenders awarded; new apron to be completed by January 2013.

The Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) has announced that the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport's apron expansion programme is on track for completion by January 2013. Contracted to China Road and Building Construction Company and with supervision work being done by a local Ethiopian firm - the Transport Construction Design Consultancy Share Company - the EAE expects the new apron to ease the persistent aircraft parking problem the airport faces, particularly during large international conferences.

■■ MOZAMBIQUE: (Pics) New Domestic Terminal at Maputo Airport to be ready by October.

-Updated 28 December 2012.

Construction works on Maputo Airport's new Domestic Terminal have been concluded with functionality testing to be run from August onwards. The final touches now being applied include the cooling system, electrical appliances, safety equipment, escalators and an FIDS (flight information display system).