Govt beefs up airport security

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Wednesday September 8, 2010 00:00

 

Transport and Communications Minister, Frank Ramsden told Mmegi that the full body scanners could detect wires or metal components, ensuring that no air passengers can carry on or off aircraft, risky items.

'These full body scanners are able to detect wires in bras or metal plates in shoes; we installed them with the new terminal building (at SSKIA).

In this day we are living in a world of terrorism and we have to make sure security is enhanced; there must be full safety where people arrive and leave our country.

'We are also putting more personnel on the ground. The state of the art machines are so that if the personnel miss something, the X-ray should detect and combat malicious intentions,' he said.

Ramsden said Botswana was duty bound to adhere to the highest security standards in aviation, through its agreements under bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

'We are signatories to all these agreements that govern aviation and if we fall short of our responsibilities, we can only blame ourselves. What if tomorrow a plane lifts off, then at 29,000 feet something happens and innocent people are killed; the machines and the personnel we have put in place should be alert on these matters.

'People are complaining that they are being searched and they are not happy, but we must comply with these agreements and these standards.

'While we cannot say our aviation is 100 percent safe, because a human being is a human being, we are aiming for 100 percent safety at our airports,' he said.

The minister, who promised that more improvements would be made in airport security, could not immediately quantify the investment government has made in aviation security. He however said no security threats or situations had been recorded since the SSKIA's new terminal opened in July.

While Botswana has largely been free of aviation security risks, government's commitment to international agreements, the need to safeguard citizens and visitors alike and international best practice requirements have driven investment in airport security.

Aviation security threats could also render irrelevant, the P1.17 billion allocated by government to the Airport Infrastructure Project between 2009 and 2011, under which upgrades are being carried out at Sir Seretse Khama International, Francistown, Maun, Kasane airports among other works. While the Airport Infrastructure Project is among the biggest allocations in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 development budgets, aviation insecurity and the appearance thereof, could result in costly under-utilisation of capacity at the upgraded airports.