Yumbe builds airfield

By Ahmed Angulibo YUMBE Chief Administrative Officer Christopher Yiki has said the construction of an airfield, three kilometres from the town centre will start next month. Yiki disclosed this recently in his office. He said the airfield, which will be 90 metres by 1,170 metres, will be jointly constructed by the district local government, African inland Mission and Here is Life. He said the work, which will be in three phases, will be supervised by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Yiki said the first phase will involve the grading of the runway, installing a wind sock and radio call, estimated to cost sh75m. In the second phase, a lounge will be built at a cost of about sh25m. The field will be fenced off with chain-link estimated to cost sh32m. “In order to reduce costs, we are going to borrow a work plan from Arua district. As I speak now, the area has been slashed. People who have cassava in the area are already harvesting,” Yiki said. He said an engineer from Africa inland mission surveyed the area and was satisfied with the choice. The airfield will be named Eric and Ridds Airfield Yumbe, in memory of two American missionaries who were injured by unknown gunmen at Eleke some months ago. Yiki said it took over four hours to take the two missionaries for treatment to Kuluva Hospital and flown to Nairobi via Arua because Yumbe lacked an airfield. He said they had opened a bank account for work done on the airfield.