Bouaké airport equipped with a fire-fighting vehicle
The Ivorian authorities are planning to certify Bouaké airport so that it can receive international flights. With this in mind, they are gradually equipping the airport with modern equipment.
Bouaké airport now has an "ultramodern" fire-fighting vehicle. The VMA (VMA112) was put into service by the Ivorian Minister of Transport, Amadou Koné, on Monday 8 August 2022.
It has a capacity of 10,000 litres of water and 1,200 litres of emulsifier, operates with a state-of-the-art intervention system, and is equipped with six wheel drive (6X6).
"This acquisition will increase the capacity of the Bouaké airport security system from level 5 to level 6 protection. And this, in the logic of getting the airport certified, in order to receive international flights," said Jean Louis Moulot, the general manager of the Société d'exploitation et de développement aéroportuaire aéronautique et météorologique (SODEXAM), the manager of Ivorian airports.
The minister congratulated SODEXAM on the acquisition of this equipment, which is in line with the government's policy on air transport, which aims to modernise and develop the sector's infrastructure. The commissioning of this equipment took place in the presence of the resident representative of the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA), Sidi Koné.
"This ceremony was also an opportunity for ASECNA to offer a PSE 1100 medical fire engine to the Minister of Transport, who decided to put this new machine at the disposal of the Military Fire Brigade Group (GSPM) of Bouaké," the ministry said.
Bouaké airport, in central Côte d'Ivoire, is mainly served by military flights and those of the national airline, Air Côte d'Ivoire. As part of its upgrading, SODEXAM signed a memorandum of understanding with the Italian company Amatec on 26 May 2021 for the construction of an aircraft fuel depot and refuelling system. A year earlier, in 2020, the Ivorian government adopted a decree ratifying a loan agreement for a total of 25 billion CFA francs (42 million USD) with the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, with a view to partially financing the airport rehabilitation project, in addition to that of Korhogo in the north of the country.
