The Wings of “Tomodachi” Connecting Papua New Guinea

Challenge

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has the largest territory among the South Pacific countries. PNG’s vast mainland has a steep mountain range, which obstructs surface transportation; therefore, the trunk road network currently has many missing links and aviation takes an important role in transportation in the nation.

Nadzab Airport is situated in suburban area of the city of Lae, the provincial capital of Morobe, which has the second largest population in PNG. The Airport handles the second largest air passenger traffic following the national capital Port Moresby and serves as a domestic hub airport for the northern area. The passenger demand over a five-year period (2008-2012) at Nadzab Airport showed high annual growth at nearly 13%. In 2012, the number of domestic passengers reached 330,000, which is the capacity of the existing passenger terminal building. On the other hand, insufficient operational facilities and deteriorating buildings were hindering the airport’s operations.

Since the existing facilities required large-scale improvements from capacity and safety perspectives, the Government of PNG requested Japan for assistance with an ODA Loan.

OC Global conducted the precedent study for the project; “Preparatory Survey on the Project for Nadzab (Lae) Airport Redevelopment” funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2014 through 2015.

OC Global provided the subsequent consulting services assisting the executing agency of the Project, the National Airports Corporation (NAC) from 2017 to 2024. The consulting services consisted of design work, tender assistance, construction supervision, environmental monitoring, as well as technology transfer.

The project was comprised of the following major components:

Redevelopment of runway: 2,400 m x 45 m class runway, including widening and strengthening
Taxiway: Total of 4,100 m long taxiway system, including widening and strengthening
Passenger apron: New construction and renewal for nine (9) aircraft stands
Passenger terminal building: Floor area: 10,000 m2, 2-story, reinforced concrete (RC) + steel structures
Cargo terminal building: Renovation of the existing terminal building
Control tower and operations: Rehabilitation and refurbishment work
Other buildings: Construction of administration building, fire station & electrical substations
Utility works: Public utilities, including a wastewater treatment plant
Air navigation systems: Aeronautical ground lighting systems

Others: Airport rescue & fire fighting vehicles, design for flood protection works, special airport equipment and IT systems

The airport started its operations on October 2^nd, 2023, and was officially named “Nadzab-Tomodachi International Airport” in the hope of symbolizing friendship between the two countries (Note: Tomodachi means friend in Japanese). Many Japanese technologies were applied for this project and the passenger terminal building became PNG’s first showcase of the Eco-Airport concept. Also, as the second largest international airport in PNG, Nadzab Airport is now ready to serve for diversion flights from Port Moresby International Airport.

Nadzab Airport is serving every day to contribute to the enhancement of both the domestic and international air transportation network and the economic development of PNG.

To ensure that the airport’s infrastructure is maintained efficiently and effectively for a long time, OC Global introduced a digital solution (a geolocational cloud platform called SOCOCA).

SOCOCA assists airport maintenance staff and safety officers with a variety of inspection work in the airport, allowing them to record defects/findings on-site, and display and share them on a map in real time.

Inspection data is accumulated on the platform, which enables data-driven preventive maintenance.

Beyond the ODA framework, OC Global continues to support the airport by transferring technical repair skills and implementing this Digital Transformation (DX) maintenance solution, helping to ensure PNG’s infrastructure remains safe, reliable and durable.