uMthatha Airport to be handed over to the SANDF

(Image: GCIS)

Defence and Military Veterans Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, and Eastern Cape Premier, Noxolo Kiviet, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the transfer of the airport to the SANDF on Monday.

Through the MoU, provincial government will hand over the airport to the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans for a maximum of five years to utilise it for training, particularly by the South African Air Force.

In return, the Defence Ministry will help to construct a new runway in order to accommodate bigger aircraft at the airport.

Eastern Cape Transport spokesperson, Ncedo Kumbaca said that this initiative forms part of the Mthatha Airport Upgrade Project, which is in line with the Blue Skyway Aviation Strategy of Provincial Government and the King Sabata Dalindyebo Presidential Intervention Project.

He said the Blue Skyway Aviation Strategy seeks to improve the potential of the Bhisho and Mthatha Airports, as well as to bring new life to the rural airstrips within the province.

"Currently, the Mthatha Airport upgrade project is underway at a cost of R55m and the completion is expected in October 2012, the upgrade is expected to improve the airport's capacity as we continue to lobby more airlines to service the route between Mthatha and Johannesburg (as we currently have two daily flights by Airlink on this route), Mthatha to Durban," Kumbaca said.

Aim is to boost growth

He added that the provincial government intends to have a service between Cape Town and Mthatha, via Port Elizabeth and Bhisho and this project will enable government to unlock the economic growth potential of the region and the province as a whole.

"It is one of the mega projects that will assist the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipality upon a path of sustainable development to address backlogs and service delivery problems that are being experienced by the municipality, which is, in the main, as a result of historically poor and disproportionate planning.

"The National Government committed to assist the KSD municipality on the project termed Rapid High Impact Presidential Intervention to the tune of half a billion. This amount will be used to revitalise Mthatha area drawing from the Master Plan and IDP Priorities (linked to MTAS)," Kumbaca explained, highlighting that this long term development path is intended to impact positively towards the realisation of the KSD vision 2030 master plan.

In support of this vision, the Inter - Ministerial Committee on KSD Presidential Intervention has further streamlined and endorsed the six catalytic projects including human settlement, sewer, roads infrastructure, water infrastructure, electricity and airport building upgrade.

These catalytic projects and development priorities are aligned to the Medium Term Strategic Framework as well as Provincial Strategic Framework priorities:

• Speeding up growth and transforming the economy to create descent work and sustainable livelihoods
• Building social and economic infrastructure
• Rural development, land, agrarian reform and food security
• Strengthening education and building a skills and human resource base
• Improving the general health profile of the province
• Intensifying the fight against crime and corruption
• Building cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.