Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda on Saturday inspected progress on the 66-million-U.S. dollars expansion project of Mwanza airport on the Lake Victoria shore, an senior official said.

"The expansion of the airport will make Mwanza a transport hub for the Great Lakes region and international flights from across the world," said Charles Tizeba, Tanzania's deputy minister for Works.

Tizeba said the expansion of the airport by Beijing Construction Engineering Group of China will be able to serve over 2 million passengers a year from the current 500,000 passengers a year.

He said the expansion of the airport involved the renovation of its control tower and the expansion of the runway from 2,000 metres to 3,300 metres.

The government of Tanzania was contributing 53 million dollars for the expansion project and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) granted a 13 million dollars loan, he said.

"Mwanza airport has now earned international status," Tizeba said, adding that the airport will allow the landing of huge aircraft, including cargo aircraft such as Boeing 747s.

He said that the construction works began in June 2012 and will be completed in October 2015.

The construction works include improvements for parking areas for both passenger and cargo planes, parking for cars, departure and arrival terminals and the control tower. Endi

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