Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin says some $15 million dollars was spent on a new radar system in the Civil Aviation Department and almost $22 million dollars on a new radar system in the Department of Meteorology.
The new radar system at the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) is scheduled to go live fully within the next two weeks, she said.
It will also improve the technological aspect in the civil aviation sector tremendously.
“This will really enhance the capabilities of air traffic control series in The Bahamas, and so it is really a step forward in a major way for The Bahamas,” she said.
“We’ve moved from an ASR-8 which we’ve had for about 30 years and it’s served us well. We’ve had some break downs here and there, but it served us well. What we have now is like night and day, the technology today is just eons ahead.”
The new system will comprise of a number of components that will support air traffic controllers’ work significantly.
“It includes a state of the art pulsar radar system and an APB building with simulators, which allow us to cut down training time for air traffic controllers,” Ms. Hanna-Martin stated.
“The air traffic controllers started about ten days ago transitioning to the new system.”
Now just two days ago, heavy rainfall hit The Bahamas yet again. However MET department officials said they could not track the system due to its radars malfunctioning.
Minister Hanna Martin says the radar is currently backed up and running, but a new radar system is already in the process of being brought online.
“We are seeking now to do something different which is to create a network of radars. We don’t have that now. We have one radar and replacing that radar will deal with the issue of lack of coverage,” she said.
“The network will allow us to have coverage comprehensively and that is going to be done in a phase basis but in a very short period of time.”
She says the coverage is some 100,000 square miles of sea and all islands.
The Ministry of Finance has already approved the cost of some $20 million dollars.
The process will take some 90 days and the first phase is expected to come on stream sometime early next year.
