The small West African state of Sierra Leone, sandwiched between Guinea to the north and Liberia to the south, is on track to complete a $270 million terminal at Freetown International Airport (FNA) early next year.

The terminal—which will be three times the size of the existing one when finished—is expected to have a transformative impact in the medium term. The government hopes it will turn FNA, the only international airport in Sierra Leone, into a regional aviation hub.

Capacity will grow by an even greater multiple as passenger handling rises to a million passengers a year, five times the current maximum. The terminal will be powered by a 1.5-megawatt solar farm making FNA the first fully green airport terminal in West Africa and capable of handling eight wide-body passenger aircraft simultaneously, according to the operator, Sierra Leone Airports Authority, a government entity.

The existing terminal, built by Britain’s Royal Air Force in the 1940s when Sierra Leone was a colony, had been refurbished piecemeal and extended repeatedly since independence in April 1961.

The decision to go for a PPP project and establish a modern and long-term facility plays to the government’s plans to develop aviation as a vital element of a wider economic strategy for Sierra Leone. The new terminal is the first international passenger facility to be built in the country since it gained independence.

Read more about the terminal timeline and government ambitions below.

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