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| Opinion |
| Plough back the money into Lia |
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by
Claude Simwaka, 28 October 2003
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09:48:12
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To say it is disheartening that the Lilongwe International Airport (Lia) may face a major disaster or even shut down would be an understatement. In fact, we are appalled that Lia is sitting on a ticking time bomb and it is a matter of time before it goes boom!
All this because government does not want to stop collecting airport fees in excess of K15 million every month meant for Airport Development Limited (ADL) — a development which has left the country’s biggest airport on the verge of collapse.
But what baffles us is the revelation that government is collecting the airport fees not on behalf of ADL, but on its own behalf, and illegally for that matter.
We are inclined to wonder aloud what may have transpired for government to start collecting the fees illegally and why ADL has not acted all this time to set the record straight if it is really true that the company is the only institution licensed to collect the fees as landlords and not the Civil Aviation.
If indeed it is true that government is illegally collecting airport fees and at the same time watches the airport degenerate into a state of disrepair it is now in and to the extent that one day it may face closure, then we have a serious problem on our hands created by the very government which preaches and encourages privatisation. The question is: why should the government choose to meddle into the affairs of a private company?
We are told an inspection on the terminal building carried out by the ADL board last month discovered that the airport needs urgent attention to avoid an imminent catastrophe, citing eight problems on the terminal building that need immediate attention and funding.
The domestic luggage off-loading bay is cracking and water seepage to the transformers and generators below could cause a major breakdown; tower lights are not working and the building at the fire department whose water tank has not been worked on for nine years are some of the problems needing urgent attention.
To make things worse, ADL chief executive officer Captain Louis Mbilizi admits the airport is in such a state because of lack of funds, but does not want to take the government authorities to task. He wants to be noncommittal by simply saying: “Talk to them and ask them why they have been collecting the fees because I don’t know why and I don’t know how much they have been collecting.”
Whatever the reasons, we want to sound a warning here that finger-pointing or shifting the blame from pillar to post will not save the situation. Action must be taken now before our only international airport worth the name becomes a ‘no-go zone’. If it is closed, Malawi will be closed to the world, and we cannot afford to live in isolation in this global village.
A stitch in time saves nine, so they say. Our free advice: Treasury must plough back into ADL whatever it has been receiving from the Civil Aviation Department for maintenance of the airport before it is too late. |
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