Johannesburg International Airport is set to undergo a massive reconstruction in the next six years with the building of a new R8bn terminal to accommodate growing passenger numbers and air-traffic movements.
Also included in the plan is the construction of a new cargo facility to meet the "alarming growth rate" of just-in-time shipments into and out of the country, said the airport's GM, Chris Hlekane.
The planned capital investment would be in addition to the R3bn already allocated to upgrade the airport before the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament to be held in SA.
Hlekane said the new terminal building, which would be constructed in the current open space between two runways at the airports, would have its own domestic and international check-in facilities.
The new terminal would help ease traffic at the current main terminal and reduce the processing time.
Hlekane said the Johannesburg airport currently handled 16,1-million passengers a year, and that the number was projected to exceed 22-million by 2012.
Airports Company SA (Acsa), which owns and manages Johannesburg International Airport and nine other major airports around the country, said in its 2004-05 annual report that its airport network was expected to handle a combined total of 40-million passengers a year by 2010.
More than 350,000 soccer supporters from foreign countries were also expected to visit SA during the month-long 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament.
Hlekane said Acsa had brought forward some of the projects that were planned for before SA won the right to host the world cup. The plan was to ensure that the infrastructure was completed and tested ahead of the tournament.
"We are definitely sure that everything will be ready by 2009," said Hlekane.
Key projects that had been brought forward included the construction of the R1,9bn central terminal building, which would link the current international and domestic terminals. The central terminal would also include the train station for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link.
Runways, taxi ways, and air bridges to accommodate the 555-seater double-decker jet A380 were currently being upgraded at a cost of R512m.
Two new multistorey parkades with an additional 4,000 parking bays would also be built to cope with the increased traffic that came with the entrance of low-cost carrier airlines in the domestic market.
Hlekane said security at the airport had also been beefed up by erecting a 25km perimeter wall around the airport and also strengthening access control at the gates at total cost of R52,5m.
Acsa CEO Monhla Hlahla said recently that similar upgrading projects were planned for the other nine airports as part of the parastatals R5,2bn capital investment programme.
"In the next two years our airports will be a major hive of activity," Hlahla said.
Acsa's expansion programme, together with other huge investment programmes planned by power utility Eskom and transport group Transnet, could result in the three companies competing for the same scarce engineering expertise.
The three parastatals have also planned to raise part of their expenditure from local and global markets. Eskom has a capital investment programme of R84bn while Transnet plans to spend R40bn.
Acsa said last year that it would issue a R2bn bond this year to fund part of its R5,2bn capital expenditure programme.
The remainder would come from its cash flows.
Business Day
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
