The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2019 | Page 14

INFRA AFRICA
Other airports Economic impact
A smaller project at King Shaka International Airport will
expand the runway and provide for increased aircraft parking.
King Shaka involves a taxiway and apron stands, work on which
is currently under way (starting September 2018) and due
for completion towards December 2020. The international
terminal expansion is still in the planning phase to create
capacity for Durban. The airport used to serve only Mauritius
internationally, but has grown to cover multiple international
destinations out of Durban, thereby requiring more capacity.
These projects will more likely proceed in 2020/21.
In addition, Port Elizabeth (the fourth largest airport in the
Acsa group) will get a terminal expansion towards end-2021
or 2022, as well as a new parking area. George has experienced
significant growth and will now get a terminal, apron, and
parking expansion to improve capacity. Bloemfontein will have
terminal expansion as well as additional apron stands. East
London is also to get a terminal expansion and a parkade.
Gopal said in most cases, consultants were already
appointed, though in one or two cases, Acsa might still have
to go out to tender for consultants, as its Treasury mandate
had expired. Acsa has previously appointed a panel of
consultants to move quicker on smaller projects. Gopal referred to a 2017 economic impact report by
professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, that
showed Acsa supported just short of 15 000 jobs and
R2.5-billion income — “quite a big impact for a small
company,” Gopal said. “The company has a goal of
supporting and developing small and medium enterprises
as a means of transforming its industry to become one that
is representative of the demographics of South Africa.”
The new airport expansions are a step in the
right direction for the economy, as increased capacity means a shot
in the arm for tourism and greater opportunities for businesses.
However, in terms of Acsa’s own revenue projections, one
potential spoke in the wheels might be what is referred to as ‘the
shared economy’. Speaking subsequently at a recent Leadership
Summit at Montecasino, trends analyst Dion Chang noted
that internationally, airports were struggling to maintain
levels of non-aviation revenue due to the impact of ‘disruptive
technologies’, particularly reduced global ownership of cars
due to the ubiquitousness of Uber. With fewer people parking
at airports, parking revenue was in decline, while restaurants
and duty-free shops were also experiencing declines in revenue,
he said. nn
12 | CEC February 2019
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