No end in sight to Mthatha airport upgrade

the mthatha business community has expressed anger and frustration over constant delays to the upgrade of the city’s airport, which is said to be “killing the economy”.

in a meeting called by the mthatha airport development task team (mdatt) over the weekend, stakeholders said they wanted to know what had happened to the r60 million set aside for the development of the airport.

the task team consists of community members and businesspeople.

chairperson of the national african federated chamber of commerce (nafcoc) vuyisile ntlabati said the delay at the airport was “killing” the economy of mthatha and surrounding areas.

“this airport is a problem that we do not know how to deal with. it is very frustrating because we are losing out on business deals. once you tell a person they have to land in east london and drive about three hours to mthatha, they lose interest.”

he said whenever they tried getting answers from relevant stakeholders, they were told “everything is under control”.

co-ordinator of mdatt dr somadoda fikeni said they were in the process of collecting petitions regarding the airport upgrade delays. “anybody who thought we would tire and run out of steam, is making a big mistake because the campaign is gathering strength,” he said.

the mthatha airport was handed over for development worth r60m by transport mec gloria barry in october 2008. the development included fencing, the upgrade of the terminal building and the construction of a new parking lot.

due to unforeseen circumstances, work at the airport only started a year later and was due for completion by may this year.

however, work was halted earlier this year after the joint venture between ludumo and al-mo jv apparently failed to open a neutral account into which the department could make payments.

work stalled again in august and has not yet resumed.

an official close to the development said the workers had downed tools because of non-payment.

however, contractors would not be drawn into commenting and referred the matter to the department of transport.

provincial department of transport spokesperson ncedo kumbaca said the delays at the airport were due to financial problems.

“when the department of roads and transport was split, they (the department of transport) were only left with 31 percent of the budget. that was the major problem,” he said.

kumbaca said they had engaged with the national treasury to finance the project.

“at the moment there are no funds for the project.”

the task team has since taken the matter up with both premier noxolo kiviet and barry. “they both promised to do something about the development,” said fikeni.

community member lemby xaba said the state of the mthatha airport was “depressing”. “it is enough promises, we want answers. it is high time we all stand up and make our voices heard,” he said.

fikeni said due to the problems at the mthatha airport, conferences were often moved to east london.

“ this means the money that would circulate here is sent elsewhere. the whole value chain, whether it’s restaurants, car hire, hotels, everything moves with people who are moving.”

fikeni, who is also the chairperson of the wsu council, said the institution was spending close to r3m a year on transporting guests between east london and mthatha.

by sino majangaza