Tiko Airport earmarked for expansion as AFCON looms.

The Tiko airport, one of the oldest in the country has been earmarked for expansion. Though this  refurbishing of the airport is an old project having been nursed for a long time by the Ministry of Transport, many quarters do not fail to link it with the hosting of one of the pools of the 2016 Female African Cup of Nations in the sea side resort town of Limbe. The looming expansion of the airport was comfirmed in a press chat with the Lord Mayor of the Tiko Council, Chief Mokondo Daniel at the weekend.

Lord Mayor Mokondo Daniel

According to revelations made by the Lord Mayor of the Tiko Municipality, a commission has been put in place to map out lands belonging to the airport and to identify those who have encroached on the airport land. As a result of the need to increase the airport from size C to size B, the land recovered will come in handy the mayor intimated. The mayor further disclosed that even those who were settled on the Mongo Resettlement Area could also be affected. "At first it was disclosed that 195 hectars would be needed for the project but after the Wednesday meeting it seems 213 hectars would be needed for the expansion project." Feasibility work he said was being done to know the number of houses and the number of occupants per house as well as the estimated cost of each building. All of this he said will be put in one report and sent to heirarchy.

Commenting on the socio-economic repercussions of the expansion, he said they will be enormous adding that he was sure heirarchy was going to take all of that into consideration. Though the exact take off time of the project was not yet known, he said 3 Billion FCFA had been set aside for the Tiko Airport Project. "About 4000 people could possibly be displaced by the project. Following the count per house and the number of houses there are between 300 and 350 houses. Some of these are on the airport land while others aren't. Some of them are on the land that was ceded to the Mongo people by the Government." The Mayor explained that this land was former CDC land that was ceded to the Mongo people following a report from the Governor of the Southwest Region explaining that these people suffered from floods from the Mongo River. They were as such told to apply for land on which to  resettle.
"Not every affected person will be inside the airport land and I think the powers that be will manage the issue in the appropriate manner. At the level of the Tiko Council, I have seen that so many of them have their building permits but could not have their land certificates it was a layout and as such needed a land certificate for the entire layout before being taken out into smaller blocks."
Mayor Mokondo Daniel explained that a lot of money had been put in the place siting the examples of an eneo post for the supply of electricity, the availability of portable water made possible by Cam Water, the existence of roads, culverts and bridges as well as a functional primary and nursery school built by the council in partnership with PNDP.

With regards to the risk involved in displacing such a huge population and hazards that this might entail, the mayor had this to say;"if it comes to resettlement, they could be resettled some where precisely towards Big Ekange  meaning that CDC will loose some hectars for the people to be resettled. At the level of the  commission, that is how we see it. The rest of the decisions will be taken by heirarchy. If the socio-economic over heads out weigh the project then I think there will be another consideration. I even hear that the Mongo  chiefs are proposing another site for the airport so I think many parameters are involved and many things have to be taken into consideration."
Considering the demolition excercise for Tiko town, the mayor said it wasn't going to be too soon considering the fact that a lot still had to be done before such an exercise takes place. Lofty as the exercise may be, detailed studies had to be made and reports forwarded.

As to whether the main objective of rebuilding was because of the 2016 Female African Cup of Nations the mayor said "I don't think the sole aim of the project is the AFCON 2016. It is a Government project that has been nursed by the Ministry of Transport for long. I don't think it is only the aspect of football that is making the government to work on this project but football will benefit from the project."
Sources from the Delegation of Sports and Physical Education in the Region hinted that FIFA regulations stipulate that players should not travel for more than 15 mpinutes from the airport to the play ground. Considering the distance from the Douala Airport to the Limbe Stadium, there is bound to be a problem and the Tiko Airport project is there to solve that problem.