Johannesburg International airport is to spend R3,4-billion upgrading facilities and security over the next four years.
The upgrades include readying the airport to handle the giant Airbus A380, accommodating the Gautrain and building a 25km concrete perimeter wall. The wall will cost about R25,5-million.
Airport spokesperson Solomon Makgale said the projects will be completed by 2009 in anticipation of the next year’s soccer World Cup in South Africa.
The projects are partly the result of South Africa winning the right to hold the soccer extravaganza but was also the result of 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 would have swelled to about 21-million passengers a year.
The existing facility will simply not cope with that, he said. Further programmes were 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. – Sapa