Rwanda to host world’s first ‘drone airport’

According The New Times Rwanda, the world’s first drone airport will be set up in Rwanda early next year.

Last month, Norman Foster, a renowned British architect, expressed interest by his firm, Foster + Partners, alongside business partners to build the world’s first drone port in the country to facilitate transport of urgent medical supplies and electronic parts to remote parts of the region using drones.

In their proposal, the investors said, beginning next year, they intend to begin construction of three drone ports, which will take about four years to complete.

To facilitate the planned development, Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA) is in the process of drafting regulations that will soon be submitted to Cabinet for approval and to be made operational by 2016.

The authority found it important to have the framework in place to guide further developments in the technology, which is fast becoming popular, as well as other aspects such as port construction.

Drones are slowly being used to solve various problems across Africa for instance in Kenya the Kenya Wildlife Service has implemented the use of drones to tackle poaching. The drone surveillance project which is still under a pilot at the Tsavo National Park is seen as a huge step to help neutralize poacher attacks on endangered elephant and rhino wildlife.

On the other hand, Nigerian Government plans to deploy use of drones to supplement surveillance activities on all oil installations. The 500 drones will monitor pipelines in a move aimed at tackling oil theft. Once fully deployed, the drones will also monitor the movement of ships along the coastal areas as well as the extensive pipeline network.