Johannesburg International airport is to spend R3,4-billion upgrading facilities and security over the next four years — and at least another R8-billion in the next decade.
The upgrades include readying the airport to handle the giant Airbus A380, accommodating the Gautrain and building a 25km concrete perimeter wall. The wall alone will cost R25,5-million.
Airport spokesperson Solomon Makgale said the projects will be completed by 2009 in anticipation of the following year’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa.
The projects are, in part, the result of South Africa winning the right to hold the world soccer extravaganza but are also due to steadily rising passenger numbers.
In the year to March 31, the airport handled 16,1-million passengers, an 11% increase on the year before. By 2010, the number is expected to swell to 21-million passengers a year.
The existing facilities will simply not cope with that, Makgale said.
Further programmes are already in the pipeline, including a new terminal complex in the ”midfield” between the airport’s main runways.
Construction is likely to start in 2012 and the current projected cost is R8-billion.
By then a new cargo handling area will also have been built. Construction will start in 2010. The cost of that project must still be determined.
Among the first projects scheduled for completion is a new R21-million hotel.
Also slated for upgrade is international departures — both the overcrowded hall and the outside concourse. This will cost R84,6-million. ”Scheduled to be completed in early 2007, this expansion will allow for more space for families and guests who are greeting or saying farewell to passengers,” an Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) information document said.
Towards the end of 2009, the international and domestic terminals will be linked by a new central terminal building — currently under construction.
”This will result in a central passenger-processing unit for both domestic and international passengers. The facility will be equipped with infrastructure for baggage handling for the Airbus A380 and will be connected to the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link for ease of access by rail,” the Acsa briefing document said.
Also on the way is another multi-storey parkade. ”Five thousand additional parking bays will be added to the current 6 900 bays through the construction of a second multi-storey parkade, the first phase of which is scheduled to open to the public in November 2007.”
To increase airside capacity, nine new aircraft stands will be constructed with air-bridge links directly to the terminal.
”Four of these stands will be able to accommodate the A380 and for this will be equipped with dual air bridges to facilitate the simultaneous boarding and disembarking of passengers through both the upper and lower levels of the aircraft at the same time.”
Another R27-million will also be spent — on top of R8-million already invested — in upgrading security gates.
Earlier this month, Acsa launched a series of measures to control the entrance and egress of all staff to the baggage-processing areas. Johannesburg International airport general manager Chris Hlekane at the time acknowledged that baggage theft had become a very serious problem.
”Acsa is concerned as this inconveniences affected passengers and negatively impacts on our brand as a country,” he said.
”However, the truth is that this facility and various other initiatives undertaken by Acsa will not, on their own, totally resolve the problem … theft is not an infrastructure problem. It is a people problem. Even the best infrastructure will not outwit and stop people from stealing out of passengers’ bags.
”Employing people of integrity and ensuring the necessary controls are in place is therefore pivotal,” said Hlekane. — Sapa