Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport, on Wednesday officially laid a brick for the construction of a seven-storey complex for the Ghana Civil Aviation Training Academy (GATA) at Kotoka International Airport.
She called on the GCAA to continue to explore other ways of revenue generation.
Mrs Attivor said the GCAA has taken a bold initiative to build the edifice with internally generated funds and urged the corporate entity to engage the private sector as a partner in developing the industry.
This, she said, is important as government had recently stated that it would no longer support State Owned Organisations that could generate money to fund their operations and undertake infrastructure development.
Mrs Attivor said when GATA is completed it would equip aviation industry personnel with the requisite skills to avert accidents and other negative incidents in the aviation industry in the sub-region.
She said the Training Academy is being expanded at a time when Ghana�s aviation sector is experiencing tremendous growth, much to the envy of players in the region.
Mrs Attivor said the project would help to address the shortfall of professionals in the air transport industry while consolidating Ghana�s position as an aviation hub.
She urged managers of the facility to take good care of it when it is completed in order to safeguard investments that would go into the project.
Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey, Director-General of the GCAA, said GATA was established in 2008 and began operations in 2009 and has since organised several local and international aviation related courses, which have generated enormous interests among countries in the sub-region such as Liberia, Sao Tome , the Gambia and Nigeria.
�The states, some airlines, aviation institutions and the Ghana Air Force have trained their respective staff at the academy. The Federal Aviation Administration-USA, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), and the Banjul Accord Group Safety Oversight Organisation have also adopted the training academy as a centre for training staff of the aviation industry in Africa,� he noted.
The seven- storey building which costs about $10 million would house lecture theatres, Offices, a library, simulation centres, computer laboratories, cafeteria and a 200 capacity conference facility.
�Because of our strategic location and qualified instructors coupled with our state-of-the-art facilities, GATA is now in partnership with IATA (International Air Transport Association) and also pursuing other collaborations and alliances with other reputable organisations such as the Public Private Partnerships and the Federal Aviation Administration both in USA.�
The project is expected to be completed by March 2014.
Mrs Doreen Owusu-Fianko, Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company Limited, congratulated the GCAA for the project, saying the knowledge imparted to professionals by the academy would ignite their passion and enable them to give off their best.
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