MUGUMU AIRPORT PROJECT GETS NEMC CLEARANCE
(Posted 25th October 2014)
Tanzania’s National Environmental Management Council recently approved the plans by the Mugumu town council to expand and upgrade an airstrip into an aerodrome, capable to receive larger aircraft facilitate more landings than presently possible.
Located in Serengeti District, adjoining the Serengeti National Park, the new facility, when ready, will seek to attract extra traffic though most charters and even scheduled flights from Arusha land at strips close to the lodges and safari camps where clients will stay for the duration of their visit to the park.
The project itself is not entirely without controversy, considering plans by the Tanzanian government to upgrade the Mwanza airport to international standards and the fact that flights from the region, Europe and the Gulf are using Kilimanjaro International Airport as an entry point, from where tourists then either go by road or by air to the various lodges and camps across the Northern safari circuit.
Said an Arusha based tourism source: ‘The logic to build a bigger airport in Mugumu, which is on the Western side outside Serengeti, for sure raises questions. The international arrivals come by road from Nairobi via Namanga to Arusha or fly into JRO from where we take charge of them. They either go by road, or combine road and air or go exclusively by air when they visit Manyara, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. Tourist flights, charters and scheduled fligths, leave from JRO and from Arusha and that is a proven formula for us. We need to look at the main entry points into Tanzania and the tourist traffic does not land in an isolated area but at a hub like JRO or DAR. I am personally skeptical if this is not just a scheme by Tudor Jones to have his super rich fly their private jets to Mugumu and then transfer to his camp enclaves which for normal tourists are off limits. The bulk of the safari traffic will, like it has always been, leave from Arusha by road or air but if he wants to spend his own money, that is up to him. What I hope is that NEMC has looked at all the aspects of a bigger airfield there, because there is already an issue with water. An airport uses a lot of water and the supply has to be sustainable and not at the expense of the people who live there or their crop growing. Let Tudor Jone spend his money; as long as taxpayers money is not used it is ok’.
There are indications that legal challenges may be mounted over the project but only time will tell if that will indeed be so or if the project is going ahead as it has now been approved.
