Cape Town airport’s R11.5bn facelift

CTI Airport - Cape Town International Airport - Aerial

CTI Airport - Cape Town International Airport - Aerial

Published Oct 17, 2014

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Cape Town - Cape Town International Airport is to get a R11.5 billion facelift which would see the gateway to Africa expand its passenger capacity from 8.5 million a year to 40 million a year.

On Thursday, the Airports Company SA (Acsa) said plans to invest the R11.5bn over the next decade would include large and small projects such as the new realigned runway, terminal 2 development, and a central terminal pier.

This is part of the airport firm’s 2012 economic impact study of all the airports managed in the group. This emerged at the firm’s first business opportunities conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Thursday, which could become an annual event.

The assessment analysed the period from 2007/8 to 2010/11 as the baseline and looked at potential impacts of future infrastructure projects that could be implemented between 2011/12 and 2022/23.

For the forecasted period of 2011/12 to 2022/23 and based on an estimated R70bn in infrastructure across all Acsa airports nationally, it estimated a contribution of R28.5bn to real GDP and the creation of more than 328 000 jobs (98 000 direct and 230 000 indirect jobs).

The direct economic impact of the estimated five-year capital expenditure spend at Cape Town International Airport is R5.4bn.

This translated to a contribution of R4.5m into the province’s GDP and the creation of an estimated 2 100 jobs.

 

The total tourism spend by visitors arriving through Cape Town International Airport amounts to more than 11 percent of Cape Town’s total GDP and 8 percent of Cape Town’s total employment.

Deidre Davids, Acsa communications manager for Cape Town International Airport, said the aim of the conference was to create an open platform for engagement with small and medium to big business owners and entrepreneurs.

The airport would showcase the commitment of Acsa in making a meaningful and sustainable contribution to transformation in South Africa through its corporate strategy.

The focus would be on job creation and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment factors such as employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development.

Davids said: “We are serious about our role in growing the economy. The airport is

on a drive to get more business tendering, be it a well-established or small to medium enterprise, we are looking forward to engaging different companies from different industries.”

Bharat Bhikha, projects manager at the airport, said during his conference presentation that the strategic objective of the projects were to plan and deliver infrastructure, be on time, within budget and fit for purpose and to also achieve economic development and job creation.

He said the airport’s current capacity was 8.5 million passengers a year and the vision for passenger numbers was to increase to 40 million a year once it was fully developed.

Bhikha said the 10-year plan for an investment of R11.5bn included 15 larger projects worth R9bn and 70 smaller projects worth R2.5bn.

The major projects are for the airside part of the airport, of which there are five.

Construction will begin next year and run until 2025. The three landside projects will begin next year and run until 2024.

Airside projects include a new runway - Bhikha said this was because the existing runway was too close to the terminal buildings - a taxiways upgrade and aircraft parking stands.

Landside projects include the expansion of the fuel depot and oval office and a new perimeter fence.

For the new perimeter fence, he said: “We are looking to expand the fencing around the new runway. We are looking at a concrete fence and a secondary wire fence.”

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Cape Argus

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