Fiji Airports Executive Chair Faiz Khan says building a quality and world-class infrastructure will ensure organizations provide better services to its customers as well as have a great impact on the lives of all Fijians.

He says a good example is the newly renovated Nadi international airport which is not only one of the pride of the nation and the Pacific but it has been globally recognized as one of the most improved in the world.

Khan says the Nausori international airport runway upgrade and extension will also be constructed to another world-class gateway to Fiji.

“So it’s not only a simple matter of lengthening and widening the runway itself but together with it you have got the runway strip which is about 150km from the centre-line, that gets upgraded, the drainage gets upgraded because Nausori rains a lot, the taxiways get upgraded, the runway and safety area gets upgraded, ILS which is instrument landing precision system that’s gets upgraded so there’s a number of upgrades that will happen together with the extension of the runway.”

Khan adds the China Railway Group 5 has also been awarded the contract and they will be working together with the designs, consultants and project managers for this work.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says they will ensure the new Nausori airport is world-class and aligned with international standards such as those set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

“We will be searching near and far to find the best possible candidates to fill the many jobs that this project will create and we will be following the best practices with an open tender process to attract the best possible retail concessions that will prove to make flying in and out of Nausori as pleasant and seamless process as possible.”

Work on the Nausori airport runway extension will begin soon and expected to be completed by 2021.