By Derrick Spies
IN a major boost for the region, the Port Elizabeth Airport is to receive a R174-million upgrade which will include lengthening the runway and building a double-storey parking arcade.
The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has announced the upgrade as part of its plans to improve the airport‘s infrastructure ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The move has been praised as a sign of economic growth and investor confidence in the region.
The improvements – which come after a R40-million investment in infrastructure in 2004 – entail the long-debated lengthening of the main runway from 1,8km to 3km to accommodate long-distance, wide-load aircraft.
The other main development is the construction of a R66-million double-level parking facility in front of the main terminal to provide an additional 300 parking bays.
Airport manager Lucas Letsholonyane said although both projects were scheduled for completion by 2010, they were not to be seen as prompted by the Soccer World Cup.
Acsa spokesman Colin Naidoo said the regulator had approved the R108-million capital expenditure on the runway, which included a R5-million preliminary evaluation of the proposal.
This evaluation, which was scheduled to be complete by next year, would include an environmental impact assessment as well as initial design.
“The design will also look at the required turning capacity, the length and width of the runway, and what aircraft it could then accommodate.
“We are planning to have the construction of the runway completed by March 2010.”
Letsholonyane said the 300 new parking bays would be created by converting the current shaded parking and part of the open parking in front of the main terminal into a double-level facility.
“We do currently have sufficient parking with the remote facility adding up to 885 bays.
“We have realised, however, that the remote parking is seen as an inconvenience so we are looking at providing more bays closer by.”
Naidoo said the number of passengers making use of the Port Elizabeth Airport had grown by an unprecedented 11% a year and was sitting at about 1,4-million passengers a year.
“There is no question about the airport‘s capacity and readiness for the World Cup, but it is important to see that these infrastructure developments go far beyond this one event,” he said.
Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber of Commerce (Percci) chief executive Odwa Mtati said any infrastructure development was welcomed in the city as it showed economic growth and investor confidence.
He was also happy that the Acsa investment had been confirmed, as Percci had been calling for Acsa to invest in the airport.
“This means that bigger planes will be able to land which will benefit the economy of the city, especially tourism,” he said. – Additional reporting By Tabelo Timse spiesd@johncom.co.za