The Nacala International Airport, on the northern coast of Mozambique, will be inaugurated on December 13, said the country’s Minister for Transport and Communications quoted by local media.

Minister Gabriel Muthisse visited the infrastructure with representatives of several carriers interested in investing in the airport, including Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways.

Initially, it is expected that only the country’s flagship airline Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) will operate at the airport.

The new Nacala airport, developed by Brazilian firm Odebrecht, has a price tag of 160 million euros (US$199 million). The construction was partially financed by a US$80-million loan granted by the Brazilian government’s development bank, BNDES.

The loan is part of a credit line of US$300 million to support projects in Mozambique.

The new facility will have 16 check-in desks, two departure lounges for both domestic traffic and for international passengers and an annual capacity for 500,000 passengers.