It will be another eight months before airplanes are able to land at the Mthatha Airport at night, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters announced yesterday.
The contractor who will install new runway lights at the small airport was appointed in March.
This emerged during an inspection visit to the airport by Peters and Eastern Cape transport MEC Weziwe Tikana yesterday.
At present, there are no runway lights which makes it difficult for planes to land at night or under bad weather conditions.
Peters said when work on the airport was completed, there would be positive spin-offs for Mthatha and the greater OR Tambo district.
“The work has started. Old cabling has been removed and new cabling is going to be put in.
“When the new cabling is done, if rains don’t come and disrupt the work, we believe that in about eight months’ time, everything will be in place and we will be able to fully operate.
“But between now and then, the airport will be operational and we’ll make sure people will be able to land at night,” Peters said, adding that her plane could not land at the scheduled time due to mist.
Peters said many entrepreneurs want to live in other parts of the country like Durban, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg but also want to invest in Mthatha.
“But they would want to get from one point to another very fast.”
To ensure the airport was a step closer to complying with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) standards, the airport recently procured a third firefighting truck.
Peters would comment on how much government had pumped into the airport to ensure it fully complied with the CAA.
“I don’t want to talk about that figure now…as we work the costs escalate and we believe that it is at the end that we look at the total cost.”
Tikana said they were frustrated by the delays in the airport project.
“We will be happy when the work has been done because it will alleviate the issue of economic development of this site which is what we want.
“I will be more comfortable immediately after we complete the issue of the runway lights,” she said.
Mthatha Airport manager Anderson Maduneni said the runway lights installation project was progressing well. — ndamasem@dispatch.co.za
Runway lights on cards
The contractor who will install new runway lights at the small airport was appointed in March.
This emerged during an inspection visit to the airport by Peters and Eastern Cape transport MEC Weziwe Tikana yesterday.
At present, there are no runway lights which makes it difficult for planes to land at night or under bad weather conditions.
Peters said when work on the airport was completed, there would be positive spin-offs for Mthatha and the greater OR Tambo district.
“The work has started. Old cabling has been removed and new cabling is going to be put in.
“When the new cabling is done, if rains don’t come and disrupt the work, we believe that in about eight months’ time, everything will be in place and we will be able to fully operate.
“But between now and then, the airport will be operational and we’ll make sure people will be able to land at night,” Peters said, adding that her plane could not land at the scheduled time due to mist.
Peters said many entrepreneurs want to live in other parts of the country like Durban, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg but also want to invest in Mthatha.
“But they would want to get from one point to another very fast.”
To ensure the airport was a step closer to complying with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) standards, the airport recently procured a third firefighting truck.
Peters would comment on how much government had pumped into the airport to ensure it fully complied with the CAA.
“I don’t want to talk about that figure now…as we work the costs escalate and we believe that it is at the end that we look at the total cost.”
Tikana said they were frustrated by the delays in the airport project.
“We will be happy when the work has been done because it will alleviate the issue of economic development of this site which is what we want.
“I will be more comfortable immediately after we complete the issue of the runway lights,” she said.
Mthatha Airport manager Anderson Maduneni said the runway lights installation project was progressing well. — ndamasem@dispatch.co.za
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