Burundi and China have agreed to renovate and modernize Melchior Ndadaye International Airport the country’s only airport located in Bujumbura.
“Delighted to proceed this morning with the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Bujumbura to the exchange of letters on the realization of the project of rehabilitation, extension and modernization of Melchior Ndadaye International airport of Bujumbura which will be financed by a Chinese gift,” twitted the Burundi Foreign Affairs ministry.
The former Bujumbura International Airport now named after the country’s first democratically elected president Melchior Ndadaye in July 2019 was first opened in 1952.
Melchior Ndadaye who is regarded as the hero for democracy in Burundi was murdered in the coup d’état in October 1993 after just three months in the office.
“The Burundi Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Shingiro and the Chinese ambassador to Burundi ZHAO Jiangping proceeded on February 26, 2022 to exchange letters on the execution of the rehabilitation, extension and modernization project from Melchior NDADAYE International Airport,” a tweet reads from Burundi’s ministry of foreign affairs.
No details or costs were disclosed about the Chinese funded project to expand and modernize the Melchior Ndadaye International Airport yet.
Currently more than 5 passenger carriers use the airport including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, and Kenya Airways among others.