Justin Arenstein
PROVINCIAL government dithering is hampering plans for a multi-million rand international airport in Mpumalanga.
Two rival groups have tabled proposals to build an airport, and both claim the provincial government gave them the green light for their plans nearly 12 months ago.
But officials say neither plan has been approved, and that the province wants to commission a study later this year to check the plan’s feasibility. The province has also not earmarked any of its 1997/98 budget for the project.
The delay in building an airport is costing R1-million a day in lost trade opportunities, local business claims. Such losses could climb, given the expected boom from national government’s mooted Maputo Corridor development.
The existing provincial airport at Nelspruit is already at full capacity – about 150 000 passengers a year – and its runway, atop a mountain ridge, can only cater for small and medium aircraft.
The saga surrounding the international airport project involves a mixture of boasting and conflicting statements, in which big international business names have been tied to local entrepreneurs.
The province’s public works department told one consortium, Primkop Airport Management, last May that the provincial Cabinet had approved its plan.
Its proposal – two runways 25km north-east of Nelspruit costed at R80-million to R140- million – is supported by Nelspruit’s business community. Primkop’s members include Abe Sher (the developer behind Johannesburg’s Lenasia airport), black empowerment business Cleo’s Business Development Services, the farmer who owns the Primkop site, and Gibbs Africa, subsidiary of United Kingdom consulting engineer Alexander Gibbs.
The public works department took charge of the proposal following approval, but the project has been in limbo since then.
Sher wrote last month to secure a provisional licence from transport officials, which would allow the consortium to find investors and “to set aside the misconceptions regarding the licensing of the airport”. He complained in his letter that the project “appears to have come to a standstill” because of the lack of funds “and possible political influence”.
But Sher told the Mail & Guardian that Primkop was poised to begin searching for investors, and that the first turf could be cut in six months. The consortium was due to make a full presentation to the province on Wednesday.
However, local businessmen Izak Fick told the M&G the province had approved his group’s proposal three weeks before it gave Primkop the nod.
His group, Kruger Park International Airport Development, wants to build on land near Hazyview, about 50km from Nelspruit, with a development costed at R200-million to R250-million. Alongside Fick and his brother Willem, the group counts German company Daimler-Benz and black-owned construction firm Nyezi Roads in its ranks.
Fick says the group has already made a preliminary presentation to the province, and is marketing its plans to potential investors. Provincial officials were unable to throw further light this week on the issue.
Director of strategic planning, Joe Magagula, said Primkop’s approval had not been based on scientific research. Fick’s group, he said, had moved fast since Primkop’s approval had been given, and Daimler-Benz’s involvement had impressed provincial government officials. But Fick’s group has also not received approval.
A foreign consultant, costing R200 000, will be drafted in later this year to study both proposals before a decision is made.