To anyone who knows Honiara, Solomon Islands, the arrival is always a sudden immersion into the steamy tropical climate. The international arrivals terminal at Henderson International Airport is not air conditioned. Immigration and customs clearance is a slow, meticulous process with disembarked visitors gradually snaking their way through the arrivals cue to make it to the processing desk. That has not changed. But the first sign of a lot of infrastructure development on northern Guadalcanal is at Henderson Field where a new international terminal is being constructed just east of the existing traditional leaf house-style terminal building.
This is long overdue. The current runway has been resurfaced and the tarmac has been enlarged so multiple planes can park. There are also plans to build a second open v-runway that starts at the Lungga River and diverging outward from the existing runway toward the coastline. A second runway offers aviation transportation redundancy should one runway be flooded or damaged as a result of a natural disaster such as flood or earthquake, both of which recently occurred.
Kukum Highway, the road that connects the airport to Honiara town, is also undergoing extensive work although the majority of the 12 kilometer trip is currently a painful bumpy one while the work proceeds. The road plan includes widening it to 2 lanes each way, creation of pedestrian sidewalk space and installation of a drainage system.
While the completion date for the road and airport upgrades is just before the Pacific Games, these projects also address key transportation critical infrastructure and will serve to build adaptation and resilience in a region that lives with regular natural disasters. Solomon Islands loses roughly US million annually to damage and loss from extreme weather events.
You cannot miss it. The stadium, the largest by far in the entire Pacific Region, is also the largest structure on the northern coast of Guadalcanal. The site is fenced in but the 2 sided concrete stadium seating can easily be seen above it.
