NAME: Dube Tradeport incorporating King Shaka International Airport
LOCATION: La Mercy, 36km north of Durban
STATUS: Planning
FLOORS: NA
HEIGHT: NA
USE: Mixed (Airport, trade, industrial, commercial, retail, hotel)


The Dube TradePort is a world-class airport development which combines the King Shaka International Airport (KSIA), a Trade Zone and a Cyberport. The Dube TradePort is a critical infrastructure development for South Africa, enhancing tourism and supporting exports. The Dube TradePort is designed to serve as a catalyst for economic development and sustainable job creation.

Situated on the east of South Africa, its location capitalises on the fast growing tourism and business travel demand within the region, underserved industrial property demand in the North Durban area, as well as the major freight corridor between Gauteng and the ports of Durban and Richards Bay.

The first phase of DTP is targeted to be fully operation by 2010 and will include the runway, passenger and cargo terminals, perishables centre and cyberport. This will accommodate the significant increase in passenger and freight volumes expected by this time, including the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It is also expected that certain new direct intercontinental air services will be introduced during 2010. Initial capacity will be 6,5million people and the airport will be 32 500m2 in extent.


Location

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The Dube TradePort will be situated about 30 kilometres north of Durban’s city centre on the east coast of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The province is home to 21% of South Africa’s population and occupies almost 8% of the area. A stable business environment exists in KwaZulu-Natal and the province has one of the fastest growing economy’s in South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal has a key competitive advantage due to the ports of Durban and Richards Bay. The vast majority of imports and exports leaving and entering South Africa come through these ports. The province is a significant tourist destination, particularly for domestic travellers.

The Dube TradePort will be connected to Durban and Richards Bay by the national N2 freeway, the R102 and a dual line rail link. The site of the development will be in the region of 3 000 hectares.

Objectives

The key objectives that the DTP will achieve are as follows:

- Creating airfreight logistical efficiencies within an integrated multi-modal national logistics platform

- Supporting high-value manufacturing, value-added logistics and perishables through co-location with logistics platform, creation of a competitive operating environment (including ICT services) and coordinated government support
- Driving tourism growth through access to direct international flights
- Addressing the inherent inadequacies of Durban International Airport (DIA)
- Tapping into the benefits of alternative uses of the DIA within an overall spatial and economic plan for the Southern Industrial Basin

In addition, the DTP is designed to maximise overall socio-economic benefits, including growing employment, increasing empowerment, alleviating poverty and providing broad access to infrastructure.

Overall Development Plan

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2009 Site Plan


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2060 Site Plan


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King Shaka airport bids invited, shortlist by March
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A tender has been issued calling for companies to bid to prequalify for the design, construction and long-term maintenance for the first phase of the King Shaka International Airport (KSIA), proposed for Kwazulu-Natal, as well as the associated bulk infrastructure of the contiguous trade zone.

This R1,6-billion development forms part of the bigger Dube TradePort project, an export development incorporating a new airport, which will be linked with the seaports of Durban and Richards Bay.

Dube TradePort will include KSIA, a trade zone and a cyberport. KSIA, once constructed, will comprise a 3 700-m runway, which might be expanded to 4 000 m, a passenger terminal with initial capacity to handle four-million passengers and retail and other related concessions.

A cargo terminal catering for warehousing and handling facilities, a perishable centre, light manufacturing, offices for related business services and a government support centre will form part of the trade zone.

This project is to be developed on a 2 000-ha site at La Mercy, 30 km north of Durban and is meant as a replacement for the existing Durban International Airport, which is logistically constrained.

Dube TradePort CEO Rohan Persad said that a shortlist of bidders will be compiled by mid-March and that a bidder will be selected by September in order to facilitate the start of construction by February 2007.

He reported that the project would create value-added activities which can be developed for both sea- and air-freight movement.

Commenting on the negotiations between the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) and Dube TradePort to determine the role which Acsa will play in the new KSIA, Persad said that a “binding memorandum-of-understanding has been reached”. This includes a management contract with Acsa to operate and manage the airport for ten years, with the option to buy it during the period, he reported.

The understanding will also deal with issues such as the decommissioning of the current airport and the commissioning of KSIA and the Dube TradePort.

He said that Acsa, which owns the land, has also agreed to sell the land to Dube TradePort in order for work to proceed.

The environmental-impact assessment, which began in mid-November, and regulatory issues are currently being dealt with, Persad reported.


New car park won’t affect airport move

BONNY VERWEY

Construction of the new R90 million multistory parkade at Durban International
Airport does not mean the airport is not going to be relocated to King Shaka
International Airport at La Mercy. This was the message from Finance and Economic Development MEC Zweli Mkhize at a sod-turning ceremony yesterday to mark the start of construction.

Mkhize said the parkade was part of interim arrangements to deal with passenger growth and “does not mean that the current Durban Airport will not be relocated in 2009”.

He said the growth rate at the airport had been phenomenal in recent years, and
was expected to reach about 3.5 million passengers annually by the end of the
financial year.

“The upgrading of the car park and the current investments in the Durban
International Airport must be viewed as interim arrangements to provide the
necessary capacity until the relocation in 2009”, he said.

“Many of you will be correctly asking the question whether this investment will
see a commercial return by 2009.

“We do believe that future planning and redevelopment of the Durban
International Airport post-2009 has enormous potential for a mixed-use
development. There is certainly no doubt in our minds that the terminal building
could be converted into a regional shopping retail and office facility serving the
needs of the communities of the south. In this way, the investment in the upgrade
of the car park will be recouped.”

Capacity

Airports Company of South Africa spokesman Colin Naidoo said the three-storey
parkade, which will be completed in July 2007, would increase the capacity to 2
950 bays.

Naidoo advised travelers to get to the airport earlier than usual, to look for signs
and parking marshals who would direct them to parking, to avoid stopping during
construction, and to keep a lookout for a shuttle service to and from the terminal

its going to be huge by 2060 but hell ill be in my 70s then some of us here would have been in our 100s

hehe!! yeh, i think we will be impressed with how it looks in 2009...nevermind 2060!!

I'll be 75 by then, yikes....I wonder if i will be alive by then? lol

A long but highly important read!


FUTURE OF THE KZN ECONOMY

Dr Jeff McCarthy
Chairman, Mercury High Road Board
profmac@mweb.co.za

This article is concerned with projecting the likely future of the KZN economy, say two decades hence. In this regard we can observe that there are very few places in the world that radically change from what they once were over such a time frame, but rather they tend to evolve from – or develop out of - the existing pattern. In an open economy (which KZN very much is), the evolution is shaped largely by the extension of the region’s comparative advantages in the national and global contexts, and the reduction in scale of those existing activities in which other parts of the world are likely more successful.

Sectors of the KZN economy which fall into the latter group most obviously include for example clothing and textiles manufacturing and sugar cultivation, each of which actually led economic growth here in (many) decades past. More recently there are others which have appeared on the endangered list, including rubber products, fabricated metal products, non-electrical machinery, plastic products and footwear, and no doubt there will be more to come in the future. These will simply atrophy, and some will fade away, in much the same vein as the British car industry (and other of their own ‘sunset’ industries) have over time.

In all regions and countries, the failure of firms in such sectors capture short term political attention, and the newspapers will often report on associated weeping from vested interests. However, the main hypothesis of this article is that the future KZN will be shaped by largely un-sung success stories, some of which emerge from changing global relationships, but many of which are also rooted in fairly durable elements of the regional economy.

Combining historical strengths and weaknesses: Internal geographical organization of the KZN economy

A combination of historical durables and changing global relationships make up KZN’s relative location within the national and global economy. KwaZulu-Natal as a province virtually owes its economic existence to its positioning in global trade relationships (specifically, in the late nineteenth century, the port of Durban’s access to the Witwatersrand). But the province can no longer rely upon its nineteenth century foundations in this regard; and, until it establishes a strong air-based logistics platform, its economy could fall behind. Fortunately, it is currently doing just this, as we shall remark shortly in relation to the airport/tradeport planned for the La Mercy area.

Yet, to underline the general historical point: Most people in KZN tend to take for granted that Durban today is the country’s second or third largest city, despite obvious signs of decay in some of its areas. Is this complacence? The people of the small university town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape may have felt equally complacent in 1850 (when it was actually the country’s second largest city). Many people of Pietermaritzburg, in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, likewise assumed that merely their political leadership of the Natal Colony would keep Durban in second place as a town to them. (Pietermaritzburg was in fact larger than Durban then, but is now one fifth its size).

Things can change on the basis of access and, in an externally oriented economy like KZN’s, they actually do. At one time – only three or four decades ago – Richards Bay was seen as a sleepy fishing village in the province. But on the basis of its deep water port, and its specialization in the aluminum cluster, Richards Bay has emerged as South Africa’s fastest growing local economy during the past 15 years, with triple the rate of growth of Durban.

We are not necessarily predicting the demise of Durban, but rather the extension of growth into a corridor north of it. In the future, the new dual freeway road corridor between Durban and Richards Bay, with a new international airport located adjacent, is almost certain to emerge as the economic engine room within the province.

Durable Sectors – and those elements of them which will lead in the future

The future of the KZN economy will be set by the leading elements of four fundamental components of the current economy. The four leading aspects of the province’s durable advantages that can be highlighted here are:

1) KZN’s has historically been the primary artery of the southern African economy, linking southern Africa through trade to the rest of the world. Its two major sea ports, Durban and Richards Bay, are southern Africa’s busiest in terms of handling cargo by value and bulk respectively. These ports have been the foundations for the respective economic leadership of their associated cities in the provincial economy. Moreover, the two KZN ports continue to stretch their leads over other southern African ports, with Durban, for example, despite its capacity constraints now handling more container cargo by value than all other southern African ports combined; and with Richards Bay being in a similar position with regard to cargo measured by mass. With the addition of the new international airport at La Mercy, KZN will remain strong in transportation and logistics; and will be the primary artery for the southern African economy for decades to come.

2) The province’s two major port cities are also its main centres of manufacturing, largely because of the locational advantages offered to industrialists by proximity to such ports. Manufacturing, in turn, dominates the province’s economy. By comparison with the national pattern, KwaZulu-Natal is a heavily industrialised, with some 30% of KZN’s GGP deriving from manufacturing compared to the national figure of 20%.

Durban – the province’s major metropolis – is at the centre of that manufacturing powerhouse, but manufacturing is by no means limited to Durban. On a proportional basis, Richards Bay’s economy is even more oriented towards manufacturing (over 50% of GGP), and this town has had the fastest rate of economic growth of any major centre in South Africa in recent years (between 1996 and 2001 for various SA cities Richards Bay was placed first with GGP growth of 7,8% p.a. on average, versus 2,6% p.a. in Durban, which was closer to the national norm). Whilst the mix of manufacturing will change, the pool of industrial skills in the province, its infrastructure and locational advantages will ensure that manufacturing remains the economic centre-piece; with aluminum, motor components and motor assembly, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, furniture, paper and pulp likely to lead within it.

3) In a country noted for its vulnerability to drought (only some 15% of land is arable), KwaZulu-Natal is South Africa’s best watered province; it has a larger area of high quality agricultural land than any other province, and it is the national leader in several agricultural products. The so-called Midlands area between Pietermaritzburg and the Drakensberg is the heart of this high quality agricultural area, but there are other high quality areas including the north coast. Although in GGP terms agriculture is smaller than manufacturing, agriculture is a labour-intensive sector, which is especially relevant in a provincial context of high unemployment. Some traditional foci for agriculture – such as sugar - are now more competitively produced elsewhere in the world, but most studies show high value/ low mass floriculture and horticulture for export are likely to take the lead in the future; and certain historical strengths in relation to the domestic market such as dairy, will be retained.

4) KZN’s Drakensburg mountains, sub-tropical coastline and resorts are closest to the main national population and economic centres in Gauteng; and KZN thus remains the nation’s premier domestic tourist destination, with twice as many domestic tourists as any other province; and it also has a significant share of international tourists. Like agriculture, tourism also manifests a relatively high labour intensity, and it too is therefore of special strategic interest in the context of current development challenges. In some contexts, KZN agriculture is being combined with tourism as it has been with the winelands in the Cape, but in the KZN context the emphasis has also extended to ecotourism. Examples here are new developments between Pietermarizburg and the Drakensburg Mountains (the Midlands). In the words of a major developer (Elan) there: “(the) vision for the Midlands is to create a world class tourism and lifestyle resort, while preserving the natural beauty and environment that gives this area its sense of place……(where there are)…agri-village and working farm concepts….(and) the environmental aspects will involve the introduction of recycled water, solar heating and the eradication of alien vegetation. …”.

The public sector plays a significant role in tourism promotion in the province, and will likely do so in the future. This has been recognized for example in the promotion of public investments in places like the International Convention Centre (ICC), the uShaka Marine Park project, and public regulation of the location and character of several new casino and other resorts (e.g. Suncoast, Umdloti, Zimbali, etc). Most observers anticipate that the mix of undeveloped coastline with warm waters on the north coast, combined with their proximity to “big five” game reserves and the new airport at La Mercy, will be the focus of several new planned resorts which are likely to lead the growth in this sector. Second homes and resorts, in turn, have led the growth in the provincial construction sector (also labour-intensive) which looks set to continue for a decade, in combination with national/provincial government’s infrastructure thrust (for example building new roads, airports, port extensions).

In conclusion, the “engine-room in the subtropics” which is KZN is evolving, like any other regional economy; and this is largely in response to the reconfiguration of comparative advantage, in relation to its historical and geographical assets. Its key elements are transport/logistics, restructured manufacturing, and tourism/second-homes/construction. These are redefining the new KwaZulu-Natal.

It may seem odd to discuss a province’s economy in isolation from the national pattern, but the truth is KZN’s economy is as large as Tunisia’s and more than half that of Nigeria; and whilst it started as the port-service district for the Witwatersrand (now Gauteng), apart from tourism and some aspects of agriculture, its future economic relationships depend more on the outside world than anywhere else. Exports by KZN firms already account for some 30% of GGP, and whilst Rand strength has hurt the pattern slightly recently, the long term prognosis is that this share is bound to grow in the future.

Thanks for posting this really informative article, Mike. At the risk of sounding overly partisan, I do believe KZN (and particular, Durban) will become increasingly important in the overall SA GDP stakes. Moreover, I predict the Durban-Richard Bay corridor will evolve someday to a zone akin to the PWV triangle in Gauteng.

And KZN's economy is more than half the size of Nigeria (Sub-Saharan Africa's 2nd biggest economy)?? WOW! Didn't quite think about it in that way (everyone knows Gauteng's economic size relative to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa [% GDP = approx 35%] but KZN (SA's 2nd biggest provice by GDP contribution) has never quite been framed in the same way. That means, assuming the province had broken away from SA circa 1994 (as the IFP threatenned to do, not that central govt would have allowed it), and the province was stable and had good relations with SA, it would probably now have ranked as the 2nd biggest economy in sub-saharan Africa! WOW! Imagine that! The funnier image, though, is imagining Gautengers lining up at KZN border posts with passports to dip their toes in the ocean! With the high air-traffic from the rest of the country, it might have sped up the construction of an internatioal terminal at Durban International Airport. LOL!

yeah, i thought the article painted a realist view of the growth and changes ahead for the kzn economy. One can see it already occurring. if you look at figures for new industrial space, Durban has double joburg, pretoria and cape town combined either u/c or in planning. That emphasises the importance that industry, and import/export spheres will have on the kzn economy in the future. and as prof mccarthy says, kzn will become more atonomous in years ahead, and less reliant on sa, but more on global trade.

R900m national subsidy sought for Dube

March 22, 2006

By Samantha Enslin and Neesa Moodley

Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal government is hoping the national government will contribute half of the R1.8 billion it has earmarked for the Dube Tradeport, which includes the new King Shaka International Airport, arguing that the development should be regarded as a key national project.

John Aulsebrook, a member of the KwaZulu-Natal parliament, said on Monday: "We are arguing that national government should treat the Dube Tradeport as a key national project like the Gautrain and the Port of Ngqura in the Coega industrial development zone. An airport is a national competence."

The Dube Tradeport will be built at La Mercy, 30km north of Durban. Once it is completed, the current Durban International Airport will be decommissioned.

Zweli Mkhize, KwaZulu-Natal's MEC for finance and economic development, said last week that the provincial government had approved a budget of R1.8 billion for the Dube Tradeport and King Shaka International Airport, which would be allocated over the next three years.

Auslebrook said: "The R1.8 billion is a very large slice out of the provincial budget, which means another area would have to be sacrificed. We would like to have 50 percent of the cost of the Dube Tradeport funded by national government."

A spokesperson for the national treasury said: "A decision of this nature would be considered and approved by cabinet … Some requests do go to the budget council."

A project requesting national government funding would need to be assessed on whether it fitted into the country's long-term development plan, the spokesperson said.



The R20 billion Gautrain rapid rail project, which is being developed as a public-private partnership, will receive R7.1 billion from the national government.

The Port of Ngqura, which is so far estimated to cost R4.5 billion, is being funded by the National Ports Authority, a Transnet subsidiary. The Eastern Cape government has put R1.5 billion into the industrial development zone at Coega over three years.

Auslebrook said: "The Dube Tradeport will not only stimulate the local economy but … the national economy."

According to research commissioned by the Dube Tradeport company, in a base case scenario the development of the Dube Tradeport would create 164 838 sustainable jobs, contribute R12.3 billion to gross domestic product, represent a direct fixed investment of R4 billion and increase government tax revenue by R2.2 billion.

In Cape Town last week, Aulsebrook presented the proposal to parliament's committee on finance, which was discussing the division of revenue bill. There he was told by national treasury officials that the provincial treasury would need to make a submission to the budget council, which assesses allocations for the national budget.

"This is not an issue the select committee on finance could deal with; it must be dealt with by the budget council. We have missed the boat for this year," Aulsebrook said.

Four applications received for airport construction

March 22, 2006

By Neesa Moodley

Durban - The Dube Tradeport had received four applications for a contract to design and construct King Shaka International Airport and the preferred bidder would be announced by the end of September, Zweli Mkhize, KwaZulu-Natal's MEC for finance and economic development, said on Friday.

The four consortiums that had successfully applied were Prop 5; Siyakhuphuka, which includes Basil Read; Ilembe, including Group Five; and Isando, including Grinaker LTA.

Mkhize, who was speaking at the inaugural Board of Airline Representatives of SA conference at Zimbali Lodge, said: "We are very serious about ensuring that consortiums participating in the formal procurement of the project are capable of delivering the project in the time frames we have set … and technically sound to ensure that the runway and terminal are designed to ensure minimising life cycle and operational costs."

By the end of the month, two of the four consortiums will be selected to participate in the procurement process.

Mkhize said the selected consortiums would be issued with a detailed request for proposals by the end of April and would have a further four months to put forward a preliminary design, a detailed costing report and a financial proposal within the fixed cost that would be declared.

He said the initial opening capacity of the airport in 2009 would cater for capacity required in 2015. The development would include a 6 million capacity passenger terminal, a 100 000 ton cargo facility and phase 1 of the trade zone, which would include a fresh market; 35ha for a warehousing, assembly and manufacturing facility; and a perishables centre linked to an agrizone for growing, packing and labelling. Two support zones consisting of property and associated developments will also be opened for investment.

Ahmed Bassa, the executive responsible for aeronautical development, said a series of flight paths had been electronically simulated and were being refined to ensure minimal impact on communities, particularly on the northern and southern approaches to the airport.

"Flights taking off towards Johannesburg will predominantly pass over the Tongaat River valley, but we are trying to realign flights leaving for Cape Town to ensure minimum impact," he said.

The community of Mount Moreland, with about 70 homes, lies directly on the flight path at the end of the runway.

Rohan Persad, the Dube Tradeport's chief executive, said management was looking at vigorous consultation over the next few months to find a solution for the community.

"Of the 70 houses, about 30 are occupied, but the community is well established. Mount Moreland was initially a trading post established in 1860," he said. - Neesa Moodley

time to buy land in La mercy

It will be a joint construction between two Contractors, my tips are Grinaker LTA & Group 5, they always build good together, eg. 1. Old Mutual building (West Street)
2. Suncoast Casino
3. Gateway

hmm...but who will design it?

Here's a good article which sums up nicely the need and advantages of have Dube tradeport. (Sorry it is long but lots of info).

Durban set to become continental trade gateway
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Durban is set to become the ‘trade gateway’ to Southern Africa thanks to the development of Kwazulu-Natal’s Dube Tradeport and King Shaka International Airport (KSIA). The project is likely to improve both the region and the country’s manufacturing and logistics competitiveness.

The establishment of the Dube Tradeport and KSIA at the new La Mercy site, 30 km north of Durban, includes the building ofa 3,7 km runway, a category ‘F’ airport, which will replace thelogistically-constrained existing airport, a 6-million capacity passenger terminal as well as a cargo terminal linked to a trade zone.

The Tradeport will focus particularly on certain keysectors in the region’s economy, such as perishables, automotive components, textiles, clothing and electronics.

Dube Tradeport CEO Rohan Persad says the new facility will link these sectors by means of a cyberport IT capability, which will allow new-generation business activity to combine with South Africa’s sea-air movements, while enabling the whole area of value-added and reverse logistics to feed into the sea port.

Persad says that the project’s 60-year master plan has been completed with anticipateddevelopment goals set for 2015, 2020, 2035 and 2060. Dube Tradeport has issuedrequests for qualifications and is drawing up the detailed specifications for the request for qualification documents.

He says that the tendering pro-cess will require a consortium of players that can design and construct within a fixed price as well as offer a turnkey solution. Meanwhile, the organisation is undergoing parallel negotiations with the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) to establish the terms of Acsa’s management contract for the project, as wellas the commissioning, decommissioning and relocation issuesrelating to the existing airport.

“The current airport is to close in 2009 when this facility opens to ensure that there are cash flows coming into the project,” says Persad.

Persad says that these agreements and the details of the land transaction of the La Mercy site, which Acsa will make over to government and Dube Tradeport, should hopefully be secured by the time the detailedrequests for proposals go out at the end of April this year.

Besides these negotiations, a parallel regulatory process is running for the environmental-impactassessment and the planning for the aerodrome and airspace is under way.

Persad says that sign-off on the institutional model and deals structure wasapproved by provincialcabinet last year. “Province will hold the land and will put legislation into place for Dube Tradeport to become astatutory body,” he says. In addition, provinical government will enter into a management contract with Acsa and a design, construction and turnkey contract with the private sector. It will also establish a special-purpose vehicle to hold equityand raise debt.

Persad adds that government has set aside funding for the project for the next four years.

With bulk earthworks at the site already completed, construction time for the project is estimated at between 30 and 32 months. The project is expected to get off the ground by March 2007.

The business case
Persad says that clear imperativesfor economic growth and jobcreation in the region were raised with the emergence of the new South Africa in 1994. With the tourism sector targeted for growth, the logistical limitations of Durban’s current airportbecame obvious. Besides aeronautical inade-quacies, the 2,4-km runway is too short to land and dispatch new-generation intercontinental aircraft and is limited in terms of how far it can be extended.

Durban Tradeport’s industrial,freight and commercial project executive Hamish Erskine says that the new-generation infrastructure will enable Durban to build on its core businesses of cargo and freight.

Erskine says that over 65% of goods manufactured in and around South Africa are transported through Durban’s port. Dube Tradeport will be able to capitalise on this while reinforcing the city’s gateway function and using the infrastructure toimprove other environments.

Erskine says that airfreight is increasingly growing as a means to transport certain products. These include textiles, elec-tronics, automotive components, perishable goods, specialitychemicals and general cargo.

He points out that in a competitive global environment it is imper-ative for manufacturing and logistics industries to be able to move goods efficiently by air and sea. “We are not in that position in South Africa at the moment,” says Erskine. “This project is about starting to close that gap and really allowing manufacturers to work on this basis.” Erskine explains that themajority of goods moving through Durban’s current cargo terminal to Johannesburg must be trucked to their destination. He adds that this system does not maintain the supply chain,in the case of perishables, and does not maintain securitycontrols in the case of high-value goods.

Erskine says that Dube Tradeport will initially focus on establishing sufficient infrastructure and organisationalefficiencies to reinforce certain routes. He says that once the rightbalance between passenger and freight mix is established it will be possible to fix dedicated freighters on certain routes and begin to open new routes and find new markets.

A continental gateway
Persad says the concept of a‘continental gateway’ incorporates the concept of airport and port infrastructure. Combining Durban’s container port with an appropriate airplatform could establish Durban as the gateway for Southern Africa.

He adds that air cargo is one of the main capabilities a country requires to be effective in the new global economy.

Dube Tradeport’s aeronautical project executive Ahmed Bassa says that South African airports have historically functioned as movers of passengers and havenot demonstrated an economicdevelopment strategy.

He says that besides beinginefficiently built and managed, South African airports have not been effectively structured in a network.

Although Durban airportreceived 35 international flights a week in 1999, the Airport’sauthority and international carrier introduced a hub-and-spokeconcept in 2000. This identified one large airportas the hub to the subcontinent, feeding domestic flights to other cities in the country and acting as a spoke feeder to surrounding countries.

Johannesburg was widely accepted to be the economic hub of the country and was, therefore, established as the hub airport for Southern Africa.

Bassa points out, however, that the Johannesburg International Airport is an inappropriate airport for cargo handling. The higher altitude puts increased strain on aircraft’s performance ability, necessitating that aircraft taking off from Johannesburg sacrifice payload. In addition, the hotter air and lower air density require more air in the fuel-air mixture. Finally, fuel costs are about 17 cents a litre higher in Johannesburg compared to the coast.

He says an additional factor causing international carriers to look at alternative landing sites to Johannesburg International is that the airport’s airspace and landing slots are saturated.

He explains that airlines are driven by the time demands of the people who fly them and that business people prefer to land at their destination between 6:00 and 8:00. This is something that Johannesburg International canno longer offer owing to slotdepletion. “It’s strength as a hub has become its weakness,” says Bassa.

Offering improved aircraft-performance ability at sea level,requiring lower operating costsand more flexible landing times, Bassa says that KSIA may well become a serious competitor to Johannesburg “if it can get itsconnectivity network right”.

KSIA will offer two additionaladvantages to JohannesburgInter-national.

Firstly, KSIA’s runway isdesigned in such a way that an aircraft will only need to slow down and exit the runway to reach the terminal rather than taxi to a complete stop in order to turn at a 90° angle as is necessary at Johannesburg International. This means that planes will reach theterminal buildings more quicklyand exit more quickly, making way for more flights.

Secondly, Johannesburg international does not maximise the strength of its parallel runwaysystem, which takes arrivingaircraft 20 minutes to cross through the main runway andinterconnecting taxiways to reach the terminal building. This time loss may be critical for travellers and incurs unnecessary fuelconsumption.

Bassa says that the development of KSIA has a number of advantages over Durban’s existing airport.

KSIA’s 3,7-km runway willenable larger aircraft, such as Boeing 747s, to take off and will eliminate the risk associated with the current airport. Bassa refers to the fact that Durban’s airport is situated in the middle of a petroleum industry. He says that the refinery on one side of the runway and the 17fuel-holding tanks on the other make it “the most inappropriate place for an airport to belocated”.

He adds that the “economic need for land in that area the site of Durban’s current airport far greatly outweighs the need for an airport to be there”. Persad says that the reuse of the current airport site, comprising 700 ha, will offer significantopportunity for port, automotiveand oil-related industrial investment. Dube Tradeport’s financial analysis project executive Owen Nhlonipho Mungwe says that KSIA will also cater to thedifferent strategies employed by aircraft manufacturers. While Airbus manufactures planes to suit a hub-to-hubstrategy, carrying between 600 and 800 passengers, Boeing has seen the need to cater for point-to-point flights. The company is designing aircraft to carry between 200 and300 people travelling between the smaller airports. Bassa says that Dube Tradeport and KSIA will also become a trans-shipment trade zone. Sub-Saharan African countries that are landlocked or lackdiplomatic and economic tieswith major manufacturingnations, like Korea and Taiwan, will have access to a trade route through the Tradeport, KSIAand Durban’s sea port.

Bassa adds that South African companies are increasingly doing business throughout sub-Saharan Africa where road and rail networks are unreliable. While global transaction costs are about 8%, transaction costs throughout Africa may be as high as 30%, a cost that is substantiallyreduced in the long run if goods are sent by air.

An enabling environment Mungwe says that the Dube Tradeport and KSIA offer real opportunities for new businesses and new economic sectors movinginto the province and for blackeconomic empowerment.

thanx greg! very good read, and paints a clearer picture of the need and benefits of the airport.

Do you know where that article is from?

Sorry,forgot to add the source. It's from Engineering News. www.engineeringnews.co.za

Here's the link:

http://www.miningweekly.co.za/min/news/features/?show=82305

Construction of new Durban airport to begin next year
24 Mar 2006

Inet Bridge -

The land dispute between Airports Company SA (Acsa) and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has been resolved, paving the way for construction of a new R2bn airport for Durban

By Khulu Phasiwe
The land dispute between Airports Company SA (Acsa) and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has been resolved, paving the way for construction of a new R2bn airport for Durban.

Dube Tradeport, the company established by the province to manage the proposed industrial development zone, said construction of the new airport would begin in the first quarter of next year.

The airport, to be called King Shaka International Airport, was first mooted 35 years ago by the then ruling National Party.

It was initially planned that the airport would be operational by 1981, then 1988, later 2006, and now 2009.

Dube Tradeport CE Rohan Persad said yesterday Acsa had signed a memorandum of understanding with the national transport department and the provincial government.

Acsa committed itself to sell its 206,899ha land to the provincial government, and manage the new airport for the first 10 years of its launch.

The airports operator had the option of buying the airport if it wished, sources close to the project, he said.

Persad said the new airport would be operational by 2009, well ahead of the anticipated influx of thousands of soccer fans who will visit SA during the 2010 World Cup tournament.

"We have reached an exciting phase in the realisation of a dream of a world-class facility on the African continent. More importantly, this project is a catalyst for economic development and sustainable job creation in KwaZulu-Natal," he said.

Last week, KwaZulu-Natal Finance and Economic Development MEC Zweli Mkhize told the Board of Airline Representatives of SA, a body that represents all major airlines operating in SA, that four bidders had been short-listed for the construction of the airport.

The winner will be announced in September and construction is due to start early next year.

National transport department spokesman Collin Msibi said a lot of progress had been made to get the project off the ground.

He said government was negotiating with Acsa over the management of the proposed airport.

Business Day

http://www.eprop.co.za/news/article.aspx?idArticle=7066

all heading in the right direction...

I wonder when the design will be shown to the public? the design tender should be in by the end of the month

but they will only select the group then, not the actual design, that will only be a reality after july

has there abeen any public anouncement of who the competing architects are?

Group Five, Grinaker frontrunners for airport deal
April 28, 2006

By Samantha Enslin

Durban - Group Five and Grinaker-LTA are in the running to build the King Shaka International Airport after being selected in a pre-qualification process to bid for the construction and maintenance contract for Durban's new airport.

Rohan Persad of the Dube Trade Port said on Wednesday that once the preferred bidder had been selected, which is likely in November, construction would begin in March next year for completion in 2009. The tender will be issued for a fixed-price, time-specific design and construction contract.

This would include a 12-year maintenance contract. It is estimated the airport would cost between R1.6 and R2 billion to build.

This week the Dube Trade Port, a section 21 company, said that after an extensive evaluation the Ilembe Consortium (Group Five) and the Indiza Group (Grinaker-LTA) had been selected as pre-qualified bidders. Grinaker-LTA is a subsidiary of Aveng.

The unsuccessful consortiums were Siyakuphuka (Basil Read) and Isango (Prop 5).

The request for proposal will be issued to the two successful bidders by mid-May. They will then have four months to submit detailed bids.

Mike Lomas, Group Five's chief executive, said: "Based on the information we have, it's quite feasible to build King Shaka International Airport by 2009."

South Africa is heading into a construction boom with massive government spending on ports, railways, roads, pipelines and power plants. Over and above this, stadiums and hotels will be built for the 2010 soccer World Cup. This has raised concern that there will be insufficient capacity in the construction industry to meet demand in the next three to four years.

Hylton Macdonald of Aveng said: "The bottom line is when you make a bid, you assess what resources are available. The issue of resources has been debated over the past few months. Government's joint initiative for priority skills acquisition has recognised the need to develop resources for the country."

Lomas said: "Yes the construction industry will be under pressure but the industry is up to the challenge. There are skills shortages in certain areas, such as engineers, but these skills are being brought into the country. The type of work at King Shaka International Airport is fairly conventional, so skill shortages would not affect it."

Group Five Middle East was recently awarded contracts worth R625 million, which includes building a duty-free warehouse at the Dubai International Airport. Grinaker-LTA built the Kruger Park Mpumalanga Airport.

The King Shaka airport would have an initial capacity for 4 million passengers. The trade port would be developed for warehousing and manufacturing facilities. The current Durban airport will be decommissioned once King Shaka is operational. It could be used for retail space, while the surrounding land could be developed for manufacturing.

On Wednesday, Group Five's shares rose 15c to R30.45. Aveng gained 60c to R23.70.

It will be a joint construction between two Contractors, my tips are Grinaker LTA & Group 5, they always build good together, eg.
1. Old Mutual building (West Street)
2. Suncoast Casino
3. Gateway

I'm psycic I tell you!

hehe on the money...but it will one or the other that gets it...not a joint construction

You think, one company can handle it?

they stated that only one company will get the contract, they now hav to compete to win!

Wow.

Where in relation is the old airport to this new one to be built? Or are they next door to each other? What is the present airport called?

^^Nope they're no where near each other, practically on oppositte sides of the city, the old airport is on the south side, the new one is to be built on the north side.
This site up North was always the site for the airport, god knows what made them change their mind & build it down south! Now they going back to the original plan of bulding the airport on the northside, which to tell you the truth is the better place to have it.

Heres a map showing the 2 locations, there is quite a distance between the two airports, prob round about 40-50km? maybe less. The old airports name is 'Durban International Airport' (but there isnt any international flights taking off from here)

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3643/durbsairport5fc.jpg

Ummm..there are international flights to Swaziland, Mocambique and Mauritius...

The two sites are 56km apart, but the new airport will be many steps above the existing one in terms of size, scale and facilities. It will also offer Durban many opportunities in terms of increased cargo trade, and from what many have in the know have commented on another site, will increase international arivals and routes to the city.

The new site may look far away (36km from downtown durban) but it is only 14km from Umhlanga, which is a major commercial and residential node...and growing vastly if you look at all the projects

What international flights come in and out of Durban? I've posted Christchurch's yesterday.

I'm really interested in the rumour of a Durban - Auckland and/or Christchurch link. Would be great for rugby travel - not having to stop in Australia.

That stemmed from a guy that works for Virgin. he said that they intended moving their SA flights to Durban, with some offering an onward link to NZ..i gather that Virgin dont fly direct to NZ?

Durban used to have international flights to london, singapore, malaysia, india, frankfurt and some other destinations. They were all however stopped over the last 6 years or so due to a short runway that does not allow planes with full capacity to take off and there is no room for lengthening the runway, hence the new airport.

The same guy from virgin believes that singapore will be back in durban once the new airport is up and running, and i know for a fact that Emirates and Qatar airways have been in talks with the airport developers and both were out on a visit of the site (along with Virgin, Singapore, Luftansa and Cathay Pacific directors) during the A1 grand prix that was held at the end of Jan. Therefore the reinstatement of major international flights will happen come 2009 and the opening of the new airport.

As is mentioned in many of the posts above, the airport has many advantages over Joburg international and they will use these to their best advantage to gain higher frequencies.

I think this is a complete list of Durban's routes and carriers

Domestic Routes

Johannesburg
Cape Town
Port Elizabeth
East London
George
Nelspruit
Bloemfontein
Richard's Bay

International Routes

Mauritius
Mbabane
Maputo
Manzini
Vilanculos

South African Carriers

SAA
British Airways
Kulula.com
1Time
SA Express
Airlink
Nationwide

International Carriers

Air Mauritius
Swazi Express
LAM Mozambique Airlines

Thanks for that. Next question - who was King Shaka? It's a big honour to have an international airport named after you. Do you think it might sound better if it was

Durban King Shaka International Airport.

or

King Shaka Durban International Airport.

the new KSIA will cook in terms of its cargo status as it allows heavier take off and landings at sea level. This is what the trade port logic is all about and while it may not have 3 flights aday from BA with passengers it will deffinatly be a cargo airport per excallance

I like the name King Shaka International...it will still read Durban on boards internationally, so people will know where they are going...

King Shaka was the greatest king of the Zulu's and an amazing tactition. His battle history is long, so if you want all those details search on google, you will find loads!

Yeh and cargo will be its king pin! DHL have already stated that they will use it as a hub if it goes ahead...

Thanks for that. Next question - who was King Shaka? It's a big honour to have an international airport named after you. Do you think it might sound better if it was

Durban King Shaka International Airport.

or

King Shaka Durban International Airport.

Some Zulu king who killed a black mamba (the deadliest snake in our regoin), but then when his tribe was attacked he ran off to Swaziland, then he was killed there, but he was a great king

^^Thats a bad way to talk about him!

Durbsbooi, that's stupid of you to say that. Don't be like Americans, ignorance is killing you. Search on google for King Shaka's Articles and you will understand why he is honoured.

didnet you wwatch the king shaka mini series about 18 years ago with henry cele as the lead?

Durbsbooi, that's stupid of you to say that. Don't be like Americans, ignorance is killing you. Search on google for King Shaka's Articles and you will understand why he is honoured.
I was just joking, he was a magnificent leader. Hence he gets the praise he deserves, if he were just another king we would have forgotten bout him.
He was da leader of all the zulu's & ruled the ZULU KINGDOM that we now call
KWA ZULU natal,

speaking of Zulu kings, you guys heard that King Goodwill wants to knock of 'Natal' in Kwa Zulu Natal. So he wants the province to be names just Kwa Zulu wat u guys think of this?

oh wait we cant discuss this in this thread, post all ur views in the 'Durbs Discussion thread'

Oh & SA BOY, that seires was one of my many favourates! in the line of A-team, Airwolf, & Knight Rider! It was one not to be missed!

anyway we've also seen shaka zulu on sabc back in early 90s haha that was funny but really good

^^Wasnt that the same thing that SA Boy was talkin about?

Because of the increase in air traffic the size of the terminal is to double from originally planned. This will make it a similar size to the new domestic terminal at Jo'burg.

Dube Tradeport, Transnet in talks
May 12, 2006

By Samantha Enslin

Durban - Dube Tradeport is in talks with Transnet to develop rail networks linking Gauteng and southern and northern KwaZulu-Natal to the development being built near Durban.

Chief executive Rohan Persad said this week that "we are in early discussions with Transnet and Spoornet. They are talking because they want to align their strategy with Dube."

Details must still be finalised and a scoping report would need to be done, preferably by Spoornet, Persad said.

Speaking at a seminar on investment opportunities, Dube Tradeport project executive Ahmed Bassa said the cost, which has yet to be determined, of the rail links to Dube would be funded by government departments and state-owned entities.

Rail infrastructure would include an intermodal rail yard to provide links between rail and road. There is also a possibility that a 1km link will be built from the existing railway line running between southern and northern KwaZulu-Natal to Dube Tradeport.

It is planned that the trade port will include automotive and electronic component manufacturers and agroprocessors, and will provide for the storage and distribution of perishable and time-sensitive goods.

"The geographic location of Dube, between Durban and Richards Bay, and with links to Gauteng transport corridors, is perfect," said Bassa, adding that the trade port was well positioned to serve southern Africa.

Work on the railway links will begin after 2010 in phase two. Phase one, which is already under way, will see the construction of a passenger terminal and runway costing between R1.6 billion and R2 billion for the King Shaka International Airport.

Grinaker-LTA and Group Five have been shortlisted to bid for the construction and 12-year maintenance contract of the airport passenger terminal. Construction is due to begin in March for completion in 2009.

The terminal's initial capacity would be 7 million people. Bassa said passenger forecasts had been revised upwards and the airport would have annual capacity for 22 million people by 2040. The original design was for a 30 000m² terminal.

"This has increased to 60 000m². It could even be more than 70 000m²," he said.
The revisions have been driven by the substantial growth in air travel due to more low-cost carriers and increased business travel supported by economic growth and business confidence.

This is great news and very helpful! I was wondering how the new airport stacked up in comparison to JHB and CT. Does anyone know what the size (m2) of the JHB and CT airports are? If it's the size of the JHB new domestic terminal, I can live with that. I quite like that terminal - not too big (like many grotesque US airports) but not too small either.

This is great news and very helpful! I was wondering how the new airport stacked up in comparison to JHB and CT. Does anyone know what the size (m2) of the JHB and CT airports are? If it's the size of the JHB new domestic terminal, I can live with that. I quite like that terminal - not too big (like many grotesque US airports) but not too small either.

JNB Domestic terminal is 80,000m2. It can accommodate 10 million pax and to my knowledge is the biggest terminal in Africa.

Very good news! So double the size of the original concept, that shows alot of promise! Therefore as a joint international/domestic terminal will it follow the present DIA in terms of partitioning the sections off? or different floors?

Now all we need is to see some designs!

My apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I'm new to the forum. I'm very excited that the La Mercy airport is at an advanced planning stage (I remember first reading about it in 1988! And I think it was a concept even in the late 60s.). And I REALLY hope it is built. (The current airport is an embarassing way to enter Durban.) But I just read in the Aviation Forum that ACSA are have allocated funds to expand the existing DIA terminal. Will the new airport actually be built?? I realize that contractors have been shortlisted to build the thing, and I know the KZN authorities want to build it, but what potential is there for national authorities (government, ACSA, etc.) to torpedo the idea? Given the press coverage of the Dube project over the years, it seems apparent that the national authorities have no enthusiasm for the project, and I hope they aren't able to kill it, even at this late stage. But, I worry! Am I crazy?

WELCOME! :)

There has been a big change in national attitude to the project over the past 3 years and it has recieved the backing of the Presidents council as a key national project, along with the Gautrain. This will give the project preferential treatment in terms of policy issues and will hence help to speed track its development.

The tenders have been put out and final selection of the contractor is mere months away. The final framework plans have been completed and budgeting/costing has been finalised with payment being made the provincial/national government and the city, with ACSA the likely (yet unfortunate for durban) operator.

The reasons for the expansions at DIA are simple...the facility is far too small to handle the current passenger loads and are an attempt to keep the facility in peak operating order, so that it can meet passenger demands until the move in late 2009 to la mercy. All expansion work is minimal and has been designed in such a way that it can be used for other purposes (commercial/retail centre or the terminal and parkade..and industrial for land) once the airport is decommissioned. Hence the expansions must not be seen as a possible sign that the airport will not move. Only if multi million rand new terminals were proposed then you could think that, but that will never occur.

I'm sure the aviation experts will help more, but thats the main outline of the situation as it stands.

Nice to know that the rail connections are a separate project, for i was beginning to think that with only a R2,4bn budget that they would not have enough money to fund everything.

With ACSA as the airport operator, will they have final say over which airlines get to use KSIA? I ask because it certainly seems as if ACSA have it in for Durban! I remember the days when BA and SAA flew 747s from Durban to London, and then I remember that ACSA and the national government forced the operators to stop. And I hope the same forces will not conspire to keep long-haul operators from using KSIA. It seems that ACSA view Durban as the ugly step-sister to JNB and CPT. Unfortunately, too many international tourists have similar views, and we cannot change their views unless we get more long-haul flights to Durban.

But even if those flights don't come, at least the existing flights will get to use a nice airport!

I think that ACSA will not have a say to the degree that they have at present, primarily due to the fact that they will not own the facility, but merely be the operator of it. The Dube Tradeport committee are in discussions with international airlines constantly and they will be the ones doing all the negociating and future planning, not ACSA.

Already i can confirm that Emirates and Singapore Airlines have conveyed their intentions to use the facility to the Dube commitee, i'm sure in the years ahead more will follow

I agree Mike. The reason ACSA has been pushing for only 2 international airports is because it doesn't want to have to invest in international facilities at several airports. Hence the inflated traffic forcasts for CPT and forcasts of stagnant growth for DUR (which has been shown to be grossly false). Anyway, with King Shaka the facilities will already be there so ACSA has nothing to lose. Now it all depends on bilateral agreements being relaxed. Some positive signs from government so hopefully things will change soon.

Yes, thanx greg, least we are on the same page! What are bilateral constraints on travel between SA and Dubai, singapore and the uk? For those are the prime carriers looking to use the facility. We both remember all the chat from the guy on the other african aviation forum about Virgin looking to use durban as their sa hub with joburg being bypassed, whether that is true or not is another story. But if it were, then surely additional rights would be needed for the carry on flight to new zealand?

Dubai has an open skies policy so there is no issue with SAA serving Dubai, its more of a case of SAA/ACSA little club trying to reduce the amount of EK flights into SA. I know a very senior EK executive who was ex-SAA and he says that SAA are so scared of EK doing what they did to Australia (serving every major city execpt Adelaide with multiple daily flights) that they are not encouraging EK to add any more than the 2 daily flights and that is only cos SAA code shares onm that route. If SAA as per its star alliance agreement cancelles its EK code share then they will try to limit EK to 1 flight a day with SAA on the other one.
Seems SAA/ACSA is scared of compitition as it will show its problems and anti-competitive nature , so much for a fee market and as always the South African consumer is the looser. I have just booked back to DBN in August and Emirates busniess class is about 20% cheeper than SAA on the same plane. go figure

welcome Umhlunga, tell us about yourself on the introduction thread

Umhlunga from Washington, Welcome! as SA Boy said tell us more about urself in the intro thread, its around sumwhere.

I also heard that Qatar want to use KSIA as their base, I'm sure.

Just had a look at the Dube Tradeport website. Re King Shaka it say:

The King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) represents the development of an integrated passenger and freight airport without the significant constraints associated with Durban International Airport. The passenger terminal, with an initial 18 passenger aircraft stands and a size of 19,500m2 will cater for both domestic and international travel.

So the initial terminal size was only 19,500m2, then 30,000 and now 60,000-70,000m2!

What are bilateral constraints on travel between SA and Dubai, singapore and the uk? For those are the prime carriers looking to use the facility. We both remember all the chat from the guy on the other african aviation forum about Virgin looking to use durban as their sa hub with joburg being bypassed, whether that is true or not is another story. But if it were, then surely additional rights would be needed for the carry on flight to new zealand?

Agreement allows for 16 flights per week to UAE by carriers from each country. Emirates uses 14 and Etihad 2. Emirates has hinted it wants up to 35 (JNB 21, CPT 7, DUR 7) and Etihad wants 7. Note SAA only codeshares with Emirates and uses ZERO slots itself.

For the UK I think 35 flights are allowed. BA uses 21, Virgin 7. The reason for them not using all the slots is because SA took too long to allocate them so no planes were made available for the route and not enough flights were allocated (they basically said they had enough and would rather go to countries that wanted them). BA wanted 28 and Virgin 21.
SAA has 21 flights and Nationwide 3 (increasing to 6 later this year).

Not sure about Singapore but shouldn't be a problem as SQ is part of Star Alliance (currently 8 slots used).

greg you da man with aviation stuff. still think SAA are a bunch of solcialst protectionsits who would rather harm SA than to have to fight for passengers and work hard at being a good airline. Had it too good for too long

Yip, that sounds like SAA Giles. SAA is the dominant airline of the entire continent with a good reputation so they're in an extremely advantageous to compete. But they have a history of incredibly poor management (which just seems to get worse by the day) who would somehow manage to stuff up the whole thing.

Just had a look at the Dube Tradeport website. Re King Shaka it say:

The King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) represents the development of an integrated passenger and freight airport without the significant constraints associated with Durban International Airport. The passenger terminal, with an initial 18 passenger aircraft stands and a size of 19,500m2 will cater for both domestic and international travel.

So the initial terminal size was only 19,500m2, then 30,000 and now 60,000-70,000m2!


That is impressive!!! So basically 3 times the initial size? Greg please explain the drive behind that, cos either aviation is growing very strongly to durban, or they miscalulated!

That stemmed from a guy that works for Virgin. he said that they intended moving their SA flights to Durban, with some offering an onward link to NZ..i gather that Virgin dont fly direct to NZ?

Great new about the temainal expansion. I can't see why (from reading the posts so far) why SA is affraid of a third major international airport. They just need to get their acts together and get SA connected to the world....

DIA - CHC
CPT - CHC
DIA - AKL
CPT - AKL

Looks good to me. The way the super 14 is shaping up - you guys need to get as many of your fans over to Christchurch on a regular basis to help them along :runaway: lol
Just a simple thing like the rugby and low cost flights between SA - NZ would be great. It has done wonders for AUS - NZ (I'm just about to post a media update from Christchurch International which has showen passanger numbers up and already growing for the winter ski session ahead).
:)

Virgin do have a foot hold in NZ. It's called Pacific Blue and in Australia, it's Virgin Blue.

www.flypacificblue.com

The map below shows the flight routes in January 2005 (sorry the pictures are so small).

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jwroberts/image/obj767geo770pg38p3.jpg

http://www.virginblue.com.au/_images/sections/about_us/news/route_290105.gif

Pacific Blue has their base in Christchurch and Virgin Blue is based in Brisbane. Both sister airlines are doing well and their network is now starting to extend further than AUS & NZ.

Just dreaming - but could there be a possibility that Virgin may be going to somehow connect up SA - AUS - NZ through her daughter airlines?? Would be great if that was the plan............nothing wrong with dreams.

I would assume that Virgin Atlantic will be offering the flights from SA to NZ...but then again Virgin might decide to open an airline operating in SA...never know...We have Virgin Active (gyms), Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Money, Virgin Mobile (starting in june), Virgin Cola, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records and Virgin Lodges (not the offical name, but lodges operated by Virgin in Kruger Park)...So the Megastores and Airline cant be far off...

The reason a third major international hasnt happened is cos DIA's runway is far too short, and hence didnt alow fully laden international travel. ACSA, also spend all their money on JIA, and bit on CT airport, and forget we in Durban exist...been a prblem for years. They wanted a hub system, with Joburg at the core, so they wld do all they cld to achieve that. Looks like that is not what people want, most obviously wld want to fly direct to a destination....DAH!

Travel between SA and Oz/Nz is limited tho...direct to NZ wld do wonders for tourism between the 2 nations, cutting out OZ!

Travel between SA and Oz/Nz is limited tho...direct to NZ wld do wonders for tourism between the 2 nations, cutting out OZ!

Hoooooraaaaaahhhhhhh - dirty Aussies get far to much attention..... :runaway:

Noise Debate From May Edition of the Ridge Magazine

The Dube Tradeport, anchored by la mercy’s new international airport, has raised fears of property price plunges for the exclusive north coast multi-billion rand investments. Nicola Haywood investigates the flight patterns and finds noise levels won’t be nearly what pessimists expect.

After nearly 4 decades of discussions and negotiations, Durban looks set to secure a new international airport as a key stimulant for economic growth and tourism development.

Provincial finance minister Zweli Mkhize focused on the flagship project during his recent budget presentation, indicating KZN was on track to be operational by 2009. The provincial coffers have already set aside R1,82 billion for the project over the next three years and the balance of the estimated R2,5 billion funding will come via debt financing. Requests for proposals will be issued to selected bidders within weeks and construction scheduled for next year.

As South Africa showcases her beauty for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, KZN will be securing her piece of the tourism pie.

Dube Tradeport executive director Ahmed Bassa says as aerospace technology has evolved and society has become increasingly vigilant in combating noise pollution, European cities have already legislated that older, noisier aircraft cannot fly in their airspace. South Africa is scheduled to follow suit by 2009, essentially banning from our skies those jumbo jets manufactured from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. The latest aircraft – adhering to what is known as chapter 3 technology – have the capacity to retain noise levels to the runway and immediate surroundings. The noise footprint is the loudest on the runway, dissipating as someone moves away from the epicenter.

Dube Tradeport commissioned independent research analyst Paul Goldschagg to study the proposed noise levels and flight patterns for the airport – and the results should ease many fears. Coincidently take-offs to the north turn into the Tongaat River valley and those to the south turn into the Umdloti River valley.

Bassa says these areas are the least populated sections of the north coast, with the land zoned for agricultural use. In working with the eThekwini municipality town planners and land owners Moreland Developments, future developments for the areas directly affected by the flight path patterns can include commercial and light industrial parks, shopping centres and leisure or open park facilities. What will not be on the cards are schools, hospitals or residential developments.

Goldschagg’s study shows noise levels on the runway touch 80 decibels at take-off, reducing to 70-75 decibels on the fringe and 65 decibels within 3 minutes when the aircraft has already climbed several kilometre’s into the atmosphere. Put into perspective, 75 decibels equates to a noisy household blender or an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner and 60 decibels is the noise emitted by modern day dishwashers.

Bassa says South African aviation law will follow the international lead in that aeroplanes will be restricted from taking off between 10pm and 6am.

“Obviously airport noises are escalated during the evening when suburbs are silent, the traffic is not roaring along the freeways and televisions and radios are not playing in the background. Yet essentially, noise patterns associated with the new venture will not be a major inhibitor,” he says.

Work is commencing on the N2 interchange for the airport...the first sign that construction is immenent

Hallelujah!!!! I'll drive by next weekend just to see with my own eyes. The interchange is a good first start, but there had better be an operating airport next to that interchange by the end of 2009.

At this point, as long as the airport is built, I don't care whether it fails to attract any international flights. All I ask is that visitors be able to arrive in Durban without seeing oil refineries, oil storage tanks, and a paper mill from the tarmac. (And a view of what look like barracks or workers' dormitories on the hill opposite the terminal exit/entrance.)

Even if present flight levels and destinations remained unchanged, the new airport would be worth it to provide a non-embarassing 'front door' to the city.


Best regards,
A Very Happy Umhlanga

^^ Yeh if it is 60000 - 70000m2 like greg said then it will be pretty large. Greg...what is the size of the current airports terminal buildings so i can comprehend the size of the new one?

Also the interchange will only service there airport...there is nothing near it that needs an interchange

soooo stoked, I was a kid when I stood on the new airport platforms when it was being cut like 25 years ago. Cant wait to see it all in 3 weeks

I'm trying to open a feuling station at the interchange, but the basturds wont reply to me!

Posting for continuity


New KZN Airport to Be Complete Ahead of 2010

BuaNews (Tshwane)

August 10, 2006
Posted to the web August 10, 2006

David Masango
Sandton

The construction of a R2.4 billion airport in La Mercy, north of Durban, will be completed and fully operational in time for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.

And the existing airport will cease operations in the first quarter of 2010, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe told reporters here on Thursday.

The new Dube Tradeport and airport in La Mercy is expected to cater for 7.5 million passengers when it starts operating.

It will comprise among others cargo terminals, warehouses as well as an "agrizone" that will involve growing agricultural products, processing as well as packaging.

"Not only will the airport cater for the increase in passenger numbers but it will also help grow the province's and country's economy," CEO, Rohan Persad told BuaNews.

Mr Radebe said the existing Durban International Airport was recording about 14 percent increase in passenger numbers and would not be able to cope with this high volume by 2010.

"The present Durban airport will not be able to accommodate the growing passenger numbers and it cannot be expanded further at the present location."

Mr Radebe expressed optimism and enthusiasm about the project.

"The benefits for this integrated logistics platform, the commercial developments therein and the passenger facilities represent a new road that will bring prosperity to the area and benefit, not only for KwaZulu-Natal but for South Africa."

The minister explained that Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) would exclusively build, operate and own the airport and passenger terminals while Dube Tradeport company would own and manage the cargo terminals.

Mr Radebe said wherever possible, private sector involvement - with emphasis on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) - would be sought during the construction.

ACSA Managing Director Monhla Hlahla said it was "imperative" that the construction of the project be accelerated.

"People of KwaZulu-Natal have been looking for an opportunity to get something that will grow their economy and benefit them and South Africa as a whole."

Ms Hlahla also said the province had indicated that it had plans to investigate how to attract international flights because international airliners preferred flying into Johannesburg.

"We will assist the province in this regard," she said.



Acsa agrees to new Durban airport
August 11, 2006

By Mzwandile Faniso

Johannesburg - Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has conceded the viability of building an international airport to replace Durban International Airport, after more than seven years of disagreement between the parastatal and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government.

Transport minister Jeff Radebe announced yesterday that Acsa had agreed to build, operate and own the new KwaZulu-Natal airport, which would be completed in 2009 and start operating in the first quarter of 2010. Durban International would be decommissioned when the new facility started operating.

Radebe said the government had decided to build the new airport because Durban International did not have much room for expansion, adding that growth of cargo and passengers in the facility meant it would soon run out of capacity.

Monhla Hlahla, the managing director of Acsa, said passenger numbers at the Durban airport had doubled from 2 million to 4 million in the past five years. The airports company expected passenger numbers to reach 7.5 million by the time the new airport started operating.

Rohan Persad, the chief executive of the Dube Tradeport company, said Acsa and his company were working on an air service strategy to bring back at least five scheduled international carriers to the airport once it started operating, adding that Durban used to have more than 30. In the past few years, they had all abandoned the airport. He said the new airport would have enough land for a 3.7km runway, which could accommodate the world's largest aircraft, including the A380 Airbus.

The airport, initially set to be named after King Shaka Zulu, would be part of a R2.5 billion project, which would include the Dube Tradeport, Persad said.

A new airport was the best alternative for economic growth in the region as Durban International was growing at 15 percent a year and would soon run out of capacity. It would cost about R1.5 billion to provide additional capacity to the Durban airport, which would run out in less than six years, Persad said.

The Dube Tradeport company would facilitate the establishment of a cargo handling facility, a warehouse, a manufacturing site and an agricultural zone near the airport. The provincial government said it would contribute R500 million for the establishment of the trade port and Acsa R2 billion for the airport.

The trade port would facilitate transportation of products from KwaZulu-Natal and the Durban port to mainly southern African countries by air.

The firm expected between 30 000 tons and 40 000 tons of cargo to go through the airport a year compared with 13 000 tons currently transported by road to Johannesburg International Airport at a cost of R7 billion.

Persad said Group Five and Grinaker were the only companies to express an interest in building the airport, adding that they would submit their bids in about eight weeks.

Radebe said he would chair a committee that would decide the redevelopment plan for the land where Durban International was situated. A steering committee, which would be responsible for operational management of the development project, would be chaired by the director-general of the transport department, Mpumi Mpofu, and would include officials from the same organisations and one from the Dube Tradeport company.

right lets see some activity already

They waiting for the interchange to be complete, then they going full steam with the airport, anyidea who go the building contract?

^^ For the interchange? nope...but the decision on the contractors for the airport will be made in October

yeh they waiting for the N2 interchange to be complete, no idea why though because there is other access to the site, & I doubt the BIG trucks will be using the new interchange to go to the site, cause then they'll just cock it up

Yeh i know they have to do the interchange first, meant that i dont know who is building it! :)

Anywho...They need the interchange for all trucks are coming via the highway.

^^Group 5 is doing the interchange, they got all the Government Roads jobs

man this is taking ages all talk and no play"construction" its almost going to be as bad as the ct stad. 2010

^^ Well they had alot more to sort out than the CT stadium, cos ACSA owned the land and didnt wanna give it up or build the airport. so alot negociation was needed. But now all steaming forward!

^^ Well they had alot more to sort out than the CT stadium, cos ACSA owned the land and didnt wanna give it up or build the airport. so alot negociation was needed. But now all steaming forward!
Correct me if im wrong but the airport project was def not initiated by the 2010 bid, but many decades before i dont like how they connect every infrastructure project to 2010 deadline and any delays or glitches are over exaggerated and seen as a sign of south africa being behind on its preparations, same applies to the gautrain, it was never officially a 2010 project, only accelerated by the 2010 tournament.

re: ct stadium, stadia only being submitted to fifa in october along with costs by gvt and the city, all designs will be done by then, all stadia wil start construction in january for the latest, so there is no "delay" with the cape town stadium, things are on schedule it seems, everyone is working hard behind the scenes

Holy Son of B*tch! They finally replied to my mail!!! it took them 2 months!!! but they replied!...............but the kind lady informed me that "We are at the design and planning stage of the airport'

Correct Mo, the airport wasnt part of the 2010 projects, but 2010 served as a catalyst to get there arse's into gear & get the airport built.

From ACSA:

Durban gets a new airport
Future development will continue in this vein, including the new airport
to be built at La Mercy in Durban to replace the present Durban
International Airport.
Durban International Airport is already bursting at the seams. With
passenger growth rates of 14% a year, the airport would be in a state
of permanent passenger gridlock by 2012 if nothing was done to
increase capacity. The new R2.5 billion airport at La Mercy has been
given the go-ahead, on a large and ambitious scale. Construction
p08
has been brought forward due to a combination of strong growth in
passengers each year and the 2010 soccer World Cup.
Durban International Airport will be decommissioned in the fi rst
quarter of 2010 and the new airport will be up and running in time for
the tournament and able to cope with demand well into the future.
The La Mercy project involves more than just an airport – it will be
integrated with larger trade and commercial development that will
serve as a logistics platform for the region. ACSA’s involvement will
be focused mainly on the airport development at La Mercy. The entire
project will be enormous. To put it in perspective, the current Durban
International Airport site is 600ha in size; Cape Town International is
on a site of around 980ha and OR Tambo is on 1 500ha. The La Mercy
site is 2 100ha in size.Originally scheduled to open in 2012, construction of the new airport
is likely to begin early next year and is scheduled for completion by
December 2009.

that is a large land parcel! Funny how now that they are involved they only realised the limitations at the existing site! typical!

Yeah, I thought that it was pretty ironic that they mention "gridlock" in 6 years time when a few months ago they were proclaiming that there was no need for a new airport. They better do a good job of it...they really don't deserve this airport

At least ACSA are now on record, in a very public investor relations document, as saying that Durbs needs a new airport because of capacity concerns. I still doubt that they really believe that. But now that they've said it publicly, they will have a much harder time dragging their feet on construction. They seemed less than enthused about the project for a very long time. But here's hoping that they'll do a good job, now that it's their project!

Does anyone know how much time will be saved on construction because the site is already levelled? To build an entirely new airport between early 2007 and early 2010 seems like an amazing task, even for a relatively small airport. But surely the process would take even longer if the site had to be levelled.

Wow, that's a HUGE site. read a few months ago that it was even larger that Heathrow's. Now that's putting it in perspective.

I think it's hiliarious how ACSA have now done a (humiliating) reversal on their position from a few months ago. Three factors have contributed to this present state of affairs:

1. Their Italian partner (who was against any competition for their cash cow, JHB) is now no longer a shareholder.

2. A change in political sentiment. When national govt gets behind something (esp the President) it's difficult to argue against it. Add to that rabid provincial and local govt support and it was going to go ahead in some way or form sooner or later. Heck, in the worst case scenario, the three levels of govt could have just selected an alternate site (for example, the corridor between DBN and PMB, or another site on the North Coast acquired from Morelands) would have really hurt ACSA. They would have been left out of the loop and cut off from a lucrative market. It was thus in their interests to come along for the party.

3. Demand.

could it be said that much of the delays and holdups in the past by ACSA (read National governmnet) was due to the fact that the IFP ran Natal?

Yes, I think I did say that before, ACSA didnt have faith in IFP, plus I dont blame them, IFP were very reluctant to do anything! hence we had such a small growth rate in terms of developments, once ANC took over, this massive boom came in, well & the rest they say is history!

how much of a hinderance do you think the swallows are going to be to the development of the airport?

I dont think it will be that big of a problem, nothing a few dogs cant sort out. but the part where they might get sawllowed into engines scares me.

I think this will be a big factor, more so than ACSA, city offcials, and the proivince are willing to admit. I didn't realise what a BIG bird community existed there, nor how globally important they are. I can't imagine this factor not being noted in the environ impact study. Noise to residents, I think, will be less of a serious issue. Impact on three million birds, on the other hand... Eish!

The birds are however only at mt moreland for no more than 3 months of a year and new nesting sites can be created. While the plight of the birds is nb, i believe that a way to cator for them needs to be found, but the airport is more important

I'm not sure if new sites can be "created" artificially by humans. It's my understanding that birds choose where they want to settle. Not a bird expert though.

Well tough luck for them I suppose, unless they want to blended by some big 747 engines, they have to find a new home.

The present home for the birds was man made, why cant they man make another?

Well it will be tough luck for us if a swarm of them fly into the engine and crash the plane with all on board.

They need to find a way to nulify the bird issue. be serious, while the environment is very important the tradeport is a major factor in the growth of the region

Wrangle could delay new airport

By Jani Meyer

A looming legal battle over a tender worth billions of rands looks set to delay the construction of the King Shaka International Airport at La Mercy, following accusations that one bidder's confidential information was given to its rival.

Building of the airport, bedevilled by delays and controversy for years, was meant to start in March, to be completed in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

A Section 21 company, Dube TradePort, had been set up by the KwaZulu-Natal government to facilitate the airport's development, but there have been questions raised about why Durban International Airport is being upgraded. To cut through the red tape, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe stepped in to fast-track the project to be ready by 2010.

While the preferred bidder is due to be announced on Thursday, a series of communications detailing accusations and counter-accusations of improprieties has now culminated in letters threatening legal action.

Shortcomings
The short-listed bidders in the Request for Proposal - the Indiza Group Consortium, headed by Grinaker-LTA, and Ilembe consortium, led by Group Five and Wilson Bailey Holmes - were announced by Premier S'bu Ndebele in September.

Although Grinaker-LTA and Group Five are at opposing sides of the La Mercy bid, both companies were part of a consortium which vied for the bid to develop the N2 Wild Coast toll road.

After an initial go-ahead by the Department of Environmental Affairs, the project was sent back to the drawing board after it was found that a non-executive director of Group Five, Rufus Maruma, founded the company which did the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the N2 development.

On November 24 Indiza was informed that, because of alleged non-compliance with essential minimum requirements, its bid would not go forward for a detailed evaluation.

According to letters, the Indiza Group claims details of its bid had been provided to its competitor, and that its bid had not been properly considered.

Tender rules
In documents in the possession of the Sunday Tribune, the Indiza consortium, in correspondence with Dube TradePort, claimed, "We consider that there has been a serious breach of procedure by Dube TradePort, which has prejudiced our position and the process of fair adjudication."

In a letter dated November 10, Dube TradePort informed Indiza it had several concerns regarding its bid and advised the consortium it fell short of "substantial and material compliance" with the project's minimum requirements.

It listed the shortcomings, including performance guarantees and BEE-preferential procurement policies, and invited Indiza to make representations on whether the bid "should be rejected for non-compliance or not".

The letter also informed Indiza that, as Illembe had an interest in its decision on whether it wanted to pull out of the bid, it (Illembe) would be invited to make presentations on the same sections of the proposal.

A letter to the Ilembe Consortium, outlining areas of concern regarding Indiza's bid, was attached. In the letter, dated November 13, the project leader was informed "a concern has arisen that the bid submitted by the other bidding consortium may be substantially and materially non-compliant in a number of respects".

The letter said that due to confidentiality clauses it could not send a detailed copy of the communications to Indiza without its permission, but supplied a summary "in general terms" for Illembe to make a representations on the issues.

It mentioned paragraphs in the Request for Proposal document relating to Indiza's submission that had appeared to fail, and set them out "in order to permit (Ilembe) to address representations" to meet certain minimum requirements.

The Indiza Group expressed to Dube TradePort that they were seriously concerned that, contrary to a non-closure agreement, it had "unilaterally decided to provide our competitor with details of our bid".

"We strongly disagree with your actions that are tantamount to involving Ilembe in the adjudication of our bid. We believe that this is prejudicial to the future owners of the airport, Acsa (Airports Company of South Africa) and the province, as we submitted a value for money, technically competent proposal."

Dube TradePort's response denied the company had acted contrary to the non-disclosure agreement. The document also remonstrated with Indiza that its representatives had been in contact with members of the evaluation committee, and that it was not permitted.

Meanwhile, Dube TradePort had also taken legal advice, and, in a letter this week from Von Klemperers Attorneys, accused the Grinaker-LTA Indiza group of adopting the "extraordinary course of deliberately submitting a non-compliant bid". The contention that the purposeful non-compliance was to gain unfair advantage over any rivals, was rejected in a responding lawyers letter, as "absurd".

The Dube TradePort lawyers' letter said the development of the airport was of national and international importance. It said that the project had to be completed for the World Cup in 2010, making decisions on preferred bids unalterable.

According to the master schedule of the developers, the Airports Company of South Africa and Dube TradePort, construction is due to start in March next year. This is pending the approval of the environmental impact assessment report by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

According to Kay Naidoo, an attorney specialising in tenders and contracts, speaking in general terms on tender process, there were certain rules to be followed and clauses of confidentiality within the process.

Naidoo said if a developer communicated with one of the bidders, the same information was shared with the other bidding parties.

After the closing date of the tender, valid bidders may be informed about areas where they fell short and will have a set amount of days to rectify shortcomings.

The parties involved said they could not comment on the issue.

Joanne Winter, from Dube TradePort's Procurement office said, "Unfortunately, it is our policy not to comment on the process or on individual bid submissions at this stage, and certain matters fall within a confidentiality clause contained in the Request for Proposal."

jani.meyer@inl.co.za

* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Sunday Tribune on December 03, 2006

Tribune

Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-12-03 09:17:00
© Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains.

yeh read that today too. I also read another article that stated that the courts refuse to hear the claim. will see what happens over the next few days

I thought G5 & LTA splitting ways & joining overseas firms would have been a good thing :dunno:

Hope with the eminent G5 announcement tomorrow that things dont get out of control. As greg said in the aviation thread, ACSA have not planned for Durban. Even if the airport is built by 2010, DIA is not even coping at the moment. Even with the new car park open there is absolutely no parking to be found anywhere, and we are supposed to cope the next 4 years with no additions??? are they freaking mad!! me growing at over 10% per annum, we have passed design capacity and will surely have greater loads than 5,3m by 2010. see chaos. right now it already is.

Did they make an announcement yesterday?
I really hope this project doesn't get fucked up...

you know all this bull shit over contractors is actaully a joke. Between G-LTA, G5, Basil read, M&R they cant deliver the current projects in SA. Not getting an airport should be seen as a bonus as it ties up your competitors and allows you to focus ofn the stadiums, massive infrastuture projects etc, but instead in typicla SA mentality 2 dogs will fight over a few bones when the butchery is open

Things have been ominously quite for the last few days. I wonder what's happening.

^^ You and I both. I don't understand why there's been no news. Even if the threatened lawsuit delayed the project, surely there should be a few news stories about that. Instead the announcement date came and went with no mention whatsoever. It's pathetic that no journalists saw fit to even investigate what's going on.

^^ I know, perhaps they still think that this story will carry on for another 20 years

^^ At this rate, the story will carry on 20 more years. If construction doesn't begin shortly, the airport won't be ready for 2010. And if that's the case, then I guarantee that all the national backing for the project will start to fizzle away. 'Well, if we can't have the new airport ready for 2010, let's just focus on more upgrades to the existing airport.' This project has been unloved by the national government and ACSA for many years, and I predict that they'd jump at the opportunity to shelve it once again. So, LET'S GET MOVING!!!!

^^ At this rate, the story will carry on 20 more years. If construction doesn't begin shortly, the airport won't be ready for 2010. And if that's the case, then I guarantee that all the national backing for the project will start to fizzle away. 'Well, if we can't have the new airport ready for 2010, let's just focus on more upgrades to the existing airport.' This project has been unloved by the national government and ACSA for many years, and I predict that they'd jump at the opportunity to shelve it once again. So, LET'S GET MOVING!!!!

Will Durban International cope in 2010 with the planned improvements? Will there be additional plans if the Shaka airport doesnt become a reality.?

I don't see how Durban Int'l can cope in 2010. It's already crowded as is. ACSA admitted this in late October when they released their annual report. The report states: With passenger growth rates of 14% a year, the airport would be in a state of permanent passenger gridlock by 2012 if nothing was done to increase capacity. There were numerous posts about this ACSA report in this thread on or about 24 October.

My concern is that there has been very little enthusiasm for this project outside of Natal. The airport was proposed in the late 60s/early 70s, and has been shelved numerous times by the Nats and ANC alike. I hope ACSA believe their own predictions, and accept the fact that an already crowded airport will be intolerable by 2012. I just worry that the historical lack of enthusiasm will cause ACSA to seize upon the contract delays as an excuse to shelve the airport again, and instead try to expand the DIA terminal and parking facilities. (Runway can't be expanded further, we've had that argument a million times.)

The new airport makes sense, and I HOPE it will be built. But when you've been hoping for something for 20 years, and there's still no activity (or even a confirmed buider), then the old pessimism returns. :ohno:

I don't see how Durban Int'l can cope in 2010. It's already crowded as is. ACSA admitted this in late October when they released their annual report. The report states: There were numerous posts about this ACSA report in this thread on or about 24 October.

My concern is that there has been very little enthusiasm for this project outside of Natal. The airport was proposed in the late 60s/early 70s, and has been shelved numerous times by the Nats and ANC alike. I hope ACSA believe their own predictions, and accept the fact that an already crowded airport will be intolerable by 2012. I just worry that the historical lack of enthusiasm will cause ACSA to seize upon the contract delays as an excuse to shelve the airport again, and instead try to expand the DIA terminal and parking facilities. (Runway can't be expanded further, we've had that argument a million times.)

The new airport makes sense, and I HOPE it will be built. But when you've been hoping for something for 20 years, and there's still no activity (or even a confirmed buider), then the old pessimism returns. :ohno:

Im losing hope that this project will be complete by 2010. This is not good for Durban, South Africa and neither for 2010.

^^ to me this project is going the way of the Gautrain and Greenpoint Stadium...None ready by 2010

I really hope you're wrong on that because it wouldn't surprise me if ACSA uses that as an excuse not to build it. We really need another airport operator.

^^ to me this project is going the way of the Gautrain and Greenpoint Stadium...None ready by 2010

comparing a R20bn project to a R3bn project ?

not R3bn its R5bn

not R3bn its R5bn

?and u are?

Well anyway, the preferred bidder is not officially announced, but Ilembe will get the contract award, even when there offer is about R600 Million above from Indiza.

^^ hey welcome...introduce yourself in the intro thread.

Nice to have some news.

And mo, whats wrong with comparing a R5bn project with a R20bn project when they all face the exact same procedural flaws??

Yeah, welcome Chrineu! Do you have any news on this project we don't know about?

Welcome Chrineu! always good to have another one on board ;)

Please tell us about urself in the intro thread.
& feel free to share any info on any projects

Welcome to the boards, Chrineu!

Well Guys, I'm just somebody who hopes that King Shaka will be build. I do know hat this will happen. The announcemend of the preferred bidder was not officially but inoffically Ilembe gets the contract, they only have to go on the price from Indiza. The fact is that the whole story is a farce because Indiza never had a chance to get the contract. The design and the price from Indiza is much better than that from Ilembe, but the connections from Ilembe are much better that from Indiza. So it's just not a fair evaluation.

.......okay, so who's who in the consortiums? like

Indiza is which companies?

I had that list, but I have no idea what Ive done with it.

Ilembe Leader is Group 5 and Indiza Leader is Grinaker-LTA.

But Group 5 have the contract for King Senz stadium...will they have the abiltity to do both projects at once?

and how have u seen designs?? if u have any please please please let us see too!

Group 5 like's to take all pieces from the cake. I'm not sure if they can handle it all at the same time.
Yes I have the design, but I'm sorry I can't show them to you yet. It is still very confidential. There will be a Court hearing in February because Indiza is still fighting against the Bid disqualification.

mate you gotta introduce yourself to us with a bit of info on yourself. we all have and it paints a picture of the diverse type of guys on this site

Yes you're right and of course I will, but not before February.
Hope you all understand.

But Group 5 have the contract for King Senz stadium...will they have the abiltity to do both projects at once?

and how have u seen designs?? if u have any please please please let us see too!

group 5 and tokyo sexwale are about to make tons of money on the stadium

Well not only them, some people from the bid committes (Stadium and Airports) as well.

^^ you cant tell us anything until feb? why? we dont need exact details.

But what are the designs like??? even tho u cant disclose too much u can disclose a bit surely?

Yes please, please please Chrineu, just a couple of hints!!? like how many aerobridges?

Yes you're right and of course I will, but not before February.
Hope you all understand.


Are you Mike Sutcliff? or wait, some big shot in Grinaker ???
......maybe Mr Rajbansi :crazy:?

Yes please, please please Chrineu, just a couple of hints!!? like how many aerobridges?

8 :)

This is an excerpt from a report this morning covering Senzan stadium

-------------------------------

And, in a second tender development on Monday, it was confirmed by the Airports Company South Africa and the Dube TradePort Company that the Ilembe Consortium - led by Group Five and Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) - is the preferred bidder for the new airport at La Mercy.

This led to furious reaction from the competing Indiza Group - comprising Grinaker-LTA, the Bambata Consortium and others - and the possibility of legal action. The group has several complaints about that tender process which it plans to pursue.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on December 19, 2006
http://iol.co.za/index.php?se
t_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20061219050927696C244781

Here's more...

--------------------

Spurned Indiza on offensive over failed La Mercy airport bid
December 19, 2006

By Roy Cokayne

Pretoria - The Indiza Group, comprising Grinaker-LTA, the Bambata consortium and a large team of specialised professionals and subcontractors, has gone on the offensive over its exclusion from the design, construction and maintenance tender for a new airport at La Mercy, north of Durban.

This follows official confirmation yesterday by Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and the Dube Tradeport Company that the Ilembe Consortium, led by Group Five and Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, was the preferred bidder for the project.

Indiza was excluded because its bid had allegedly not met tender requirements, which left the Ilembe consortium as the only contender for the project.

Neil Cloete, the managing director of Grinaker-LTA Buildings, which is part of listed construction group Aveng, said the exclusion of Indiza was unlawful, contrary to the agreed process and against the public and national interest.

"It is also contrary to Indiza's right to a fair administrative process," he said. "Accordingly, Indiza will appeal to the responsible minister to have its proposal fairly adjudicated."

Cloete said Dube Tradeport had decided to enter into negotiations with Ilembe as the preferred bidder without a fair comparison of the tender price and other key issues of Indiza's proposal.

He said a signed confidentiality agreement restricted Indiza from disclosing details, but he could make some general points.


Cloete said the grounds provided by Dube Tradeport for evaluating one proposal only were not justified for a project of such magnitude as the La Mercy airport, and so were in dispute.

He added that Indiza members had substantial experience in projects of that kind and that every effort had been made to submit a proposal that was not only compliant but outstanding in all respects.

However, Dube Tradeport and Acsa yesterday said they had jointly undertaken an evaluation and adjudication "of the bids received" for the construction of the King Shaka International Airport and phase one of the Dube Tradeport.

They said the recommendation of the evaluation and adjudication committees had been approved by the boards of both Dube Tradeport and Acsa.

"The project is currently on track to be operational by 2010," they said.

Carl Grim, the chief executive of Aveng, yesterday confirmed that Indiza was considering a legal challenge to its exclusion from the adjudication of its tender.

It was previously reported that if construction of the airport was delayed by a legal challenge from the unsuccessful bidder, a fallback plan would allow soccer fans to get to Durban in 2010.

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3599457

Well there will be 12 Bording Bridges (Nose Loader) for the C Stands and 2 Doppel Bridges in MARS Configuration for the F Stands.

^^ Thanks mate!! That's great news! So that's 2 bridges suitable for the A380 and an impressive 12 more! Any other insights will be GREATLY appreciated :)

these fucking contractors, man they piss me off. A tender process has a set of princiles and delivareables as stated in the document. If you fail to adhear to them , then you are disqualified. Its the basis of a complient bid and if Grinker cant get their basic tender right , how do we expect them to deliver an airport.

Well not only them, some people from the bid committes (Stadium and Airports) as well.

Is this classic BEE in play ? I see the rich political elite keep getting richer:bash: :bash:

See relevant thread read rant about BEE gone mad in the shabeen section for those of you not up to speed with this

Be shure the bid from Grinaker (Indiza) was complient and be shure Grinaker has the much better partners with NACO and SIEMENS both Worldclass Airport Specialists. To finish the project in time (31.12.2009) would be no problem for Indiza.
To me it's clearly a case of relationship between the client (DUBE/ACSA) and Group Five and waste of taxmoney.

everything seems a little fishy at the moment, hope it gets sorted out.

Be shure the bid from Grinaker (Indiza) was complient and be shure Grinaker has the much better partners with NACO and SIEMENS both Worldclass Airport Specialists. To finish the project in time (31.12.2009) would be no problem for Indiza.
To me it's clearly a case of relationship between the client (DUBE/ACSA) and Group Five and waste of taxmoney.

Thats not waht the press release said, again it seems the political fibnger are in every pie. It should have aan international partner, follow worlds best practice for the adjudication and let the tax payer be the winner. Instead the powers that be say the tender is non complient and thats what sticks in the press , wether its true or not.
thanks for the info mate, hopefully we can learn more about you and what you do in the near future:cheers:

....but the press doesn't say in which part they are not complient, because they just believe what the client tell them. In other country's the press would ask about that points and they also would ask about the amount of both bids. (Ilembe R6.2bn, Indiza R5.6bn).
Sorry but I can realy laugh about all the reports in the press about fighting against corruption.

me neither thats why this thread is relevant:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=10945615#post10945615
I wish the Press would dig and ask questions about this whole thiong. I mean its a shit laod of hard earned tax payers money thats being used like political private money.
What is the chase of this being delayed indeffinatly (think Sun coast casino , point etc)?

^^True, lets wait till Fri n see, ol Sutt said they WILL announce the winners by then.

....normally that can't be, because there will be a hearing on Court in the first week of february 2007, but I think everything is possible in this country.

WOW R6bn....thats ALOT higher than the R2,5bn bandied in the press....

WOW R6bn....thats ALOT higher than the R2,5bn bandied in the press....

not suprising.

...you won't get a airport from this size, with this features anywhere in the world for R2.5bn.

So...um,,, what sort of size and features are we talking about?!....:naughty:

Passenger Terminal 75.000qm, Cargo Terminal (with fully automatic Racking)10.000qm, 80 Check-In Counters, 16 Airbridges, runway 3700m - cat II with the complete Airfieldlighting System, Baggagehandling, 400Hz Groundpower, Visual Guidance Docking System, Flight Information Display System, Airport Operational Data System, Common Use Terminal Equipment, Common Use Self Service, Security System, CCTV System, PA System, Powerhouse with Emergency Generators, Electrical Substations, Building management System, Fuel Stations, Maintanance Building, Security Building, Catering Building, Water Treatment Building.

I might not be knowing the actual aizes of airports, this sounds messive Chrineu. Could you please do a comparison for us between O.R. Thambo and KIng Shaka Airport, base on the info you have just given to us.

Well OR Tambo is 1.600 ha in size and King Shaka 3.000 ha. But King Shaka has in phase1 7.5 million pax and OR Tambo has already 15 million pax.
King Shaka plans in phase2 (2020) 15 million pax and in phase3 (2060) 20 million pax. King Shaka 2010 will be Airport Nr.3 after Or Tambo and CT.

Well OR Tambo is 1.600 ha in size and King Shaka 3.000 ha. But King Shaka has in phase1 7.5 million pax and OR Tambo has already 15 million pax.
King Shaka plans in phase2 (2020) 15 million pax and in phase3 (2060) 20 million pax. King Shaka 2010 will be Airport Nr.3 after Or Tambo and CT.

Thanx for the clarification my man.

Passenger Terminal 75.000qm, Cargo Terminal (with fully automatic Racking)10.000qm, 80 Check-In Counters, 16 Airbridges, runway 3700m - cat II with the complete Airfieldlighting System, Baggagehandling, 400Hz Groundpower, Visual Guidance Docking System, Flight Information Display System, Airport Operational Data System, Common Use Terminal Equipment, Common Use Self Service, Security System, CCTV System, PA System, Powerhouse with Emergency Generators, Electrical Substations, Building management System, Fuel Stations, Maintanance Building, Security Building, Catering Building, Water Treatment Building.

Chrineu you're a star! I'm itching to see things happening now. Hopefully this won't be delayed long.

Tell me, how accurate do u think those passenger forecasts are? for they often seem to be so far from the real number (lower) I mean 15mil in 2020 but only 20mil in 2060?? that seems very odd. And i believe the 7,5mil capacity will be at max before 2020, prob by 2014

also its stated that 75 000m2 passenger terminal. What is JHB and CT? for comparisson purposes to gauge the size.

Passenger Terminal 75.000qm, Cargo Terminal (with fully automatic Racking)10.000qm, 80 Check-In Counters, 16 Airbridges, runway 3700m - cat II with the complete Airfieldlighting System, Baggagehandling, 400Hz Groundpower, Visual Guidance Docking System, Flight Information Display System, Airport Operational Data System, Common Use Terminal Equipment, Common Use Self Service, Security System, CCTV System, PA System, Powerhouse with Emergency Generators, Electrical Substations, Building management System, Fuel Stations, Maintanance Building, Security Building, Catering Building, Water Treatment Building.

These are the kind of details we've being dying to receive. Thanks muchly Chirneu!

75,000 sqm! Wow! That's about as big as the domestic terminal in JHB, isn't it?

Tell me, how accurate do u think those passenger forecasts are? for they often seem to be so far from the real number (lower) I mean 15mil in 2020 but only 20mil in 2060?? that seems very odd. And i believe the 7,5mil capacity will be at max before 2020, prob by 2014

Yeah I wonder who makes up these forecasts cause they're ridiculous. I suppose they'll make up some new ones soon.

Wow thanx for the details Chrineu, any idea of anyone has submitted proposals for a feuling station in the airport ??? or outside the airport near the N2 interchange???

I even think the 7,5mil will be beaten in 2010

I even think the 7,5mil will be beaten in 2010

even worse if its not completed by 2010.

Fuel Station is within the Airport with Hydrants to every Aircraft Stand. The capacity for the fuel tanks will be 10000 liter. The pax for King Shaka will be not more than 7.5 Million, since they have only one runway. Or Tambo and CT of course have two runways.

A single runway won't keep pax levels under 7.5m - Stansted handles over 23 million with one runway. I reckon by 2010 there'll be around 6m pax then there should be a period of fairly rapid expansion once the new airport opens. Whilst initial capacity will be for 7.5 million I'm sure that'll need to be expanded within 5 years.

Stansted has all the cheep carrier's (from all over Europe with Easy-Jet to Stansted just R190,- only) from all over Europe, transporting people over the weeekend's who just like to visiting London and doing some shopping. Comparing Durban with London is a bit to optimistic.

No, not comparing Durban with London just using an example to show that a single runway needn't be a major constraint for a medium size airport

And the existing size of the durban passenger terminal

Maybe i am optimistic, but if the current 14% growth so far for 2006 continues, or even falls to 10% and slightly lower, the 7mil barrier will be tested sooner rather than later.

No one has answered my question tho!!!! at 75000m2, what is that in relation to the size of CT or JHB?

And the existing size of the durban passenger terminal

Maybe i am optimistic, but if the current 14% growth so far for 2006 continues, or even falls to 10% and slightly lower, the 7mil barrier will be tested sooner rather than later.

No one has answered my question tho!!!! at 75000m2, what is that in relation to the size of CT or JHB?

CT's new integrated terminal is the same.

What are the latest news about KSIA?
At least they don't tell us anymore that La Mercy will be build for R2,5bn (see Daily News from 19.December 2006)

And this saga drags on.
From today's Business Report...

Grinaker-LTA to argue its case on La Mercy tender
January 9, 2007

By Samantha Enslin

Durban - Grinaker-LTA has launched a legal challenge over the tender process for the construction contract for the new La Mercy airport to be built north of Durban, a move that could delay the project.

Carl Grim, the chief executive of Aveng, Grinaker-LTA's parent, said yesterday: "There will be a hearing in the Pietermaritzburg high court later this month to assess the validity of our objection to the tender process."

Last month the Ilembe consortium, led by Group Five, was named as the preferred bidder to build the new airport, which is due to be completed in 2009.

The Indiza Group, led by Grinaker-LTA, objected after its tender was excluded because it allegedly did not meet the tender requirements.

In a statement released last month, Grinaker-LTA said: "The grounds provided by the Dube Tradeport for evaluating one proposal only are not justified for a project of this magnitude … and are disputed."

Neil Cloete, the managing director of Grinaker-LTA Buildings, said yesterday: "We have submitted documents to court requesting the Dube Tradeport's decision be overruled and our bid is adjudicated alongside Group Five's."

This came after the two consortiums were short-listed in April last year to bid for the contract.

The cost of the airport, which will replace Durban International Airport, is estimated at R2 billion.

The new airport will be built, owned and operated by Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), while the Dube Tradeport will develop the nearby trade zone.

Brooks Mparutsa, Acsa's financial director, said: "Negotiations with the preferred bidder have not yet begun. We hope a legal challenge will not affect negotiations with Group Five."

Rohan Persad, the chief executive of the Dube Tradeport, which managed the tender process, said: "We are confident the process we undertook was rigorous. We do not see legal action as a threat [to the project]. We stand by our decision."

Grinaker-LTA has also written to minister of transport Jeff Radebe to intervene.

Grim said: "We have written to the minister to note our dissatisfaction with the process and asked him to intervene … to ensure the correct process is followed in the adjudication of the tender."

The tender process was flawed because it did not follow the procedure outlined in the tender document, he said.

It was previously reported that Grinaker-LTA's bid allegedly fell short due to its failure to put up the necessary guarantees.

In the Daily News fom 19. December.
Headline: War over R7bn port tender. (Bongani Mthembu)
"This follows yesterdays announcement that Group Five's Ilembe Consortium had been selected as the preferred bidder for the lucrative R7 billion contracts."
Why do they carry on with telling us wrong numbers?

^^ i have no idea...its the press...cant be trusted to report anythign reliable for they often have no clue what they are even writing about

^^ i have no idea...its the press...cant be trusted to report anythign reliable for they often have no clue what they are even writing about

amen to that.

lets see what the hearing at the Pietermaritzburg Court end of the month will bring us.

Why cant they just begin already, Grinaker & their sour grapes, face facts G5 is always going to get government work!

That tells everything!!!

Well u cant push it. if they were in the wrong they were in the wrong. they lost a contract, there are others, doubt they all have the capacity to handle all the jobs anyway. I hope there is a very speedy resolution to all this cos there is no back up plan for dbn airport if this is not ready, and the place is already bursting!

lets see what the hearing at the Pietermaritzburg Court end of the month will bring us.

lets hope the courts sort this out...i think because south africa is having to deal with a deadline of 2010 many challenges will face projects of this scale, this project and many others should have been started years ago. i mean this project was thought out in the 1970's!!

I agree, Mo.

No offense to the birds, but I'm rooting for the airport.

Article found here (http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=vn20070114093134707C840420).

Study to see if swallows, planes can co-exist Jani Meyer
January 14 2007 at 11:40AM

The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) will set up a radar system at the site of the proposed new airport at La Mercy outside Durban to monitor the estimated three million barn swallows roosting in the reedbeds of Lake Victoria at Mount Moreland. The reedbeds will lie in the flight path of aircraft using the airport.

The barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) roost there from early November until mid-April and were identified as a potential safety risk in the Dube TradePort Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) draft report.

According to Professor Anders Moller, from the University of Paris, swallows are faithful to their roosting sites and it would be difficult to relocate them, even if the reedbeds were destroyed.

Moller, who is in South Africa as part of the EIA, was talking at a public lecture on barn swallows in Durban this week.

Moller said the Mount Moreland roost was the second biggest in Africa and he did not know what would happen if an attempt was made to move the roost.

"Although it is a big roost, they do not need much space. But we don't know if they will move if an alternative site is developed. This is an experiment that has not been done," said Moller.

Albert Froneman, who heads a joint project by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Acsa, said the airports company would monitor the swallows for a month.

"We will study whether there is room for coexistence [of the birds and aircraft] and look at international models to secure it," said Froneman.

Moller said the exact size of the roost was difficult to establish, but it possibly made up 10 percent of the total swallow population in South Africa and almost two percent of the British swallow population.

The Mount Moreland swallows fly between KwaZulu-Natal and Britain and the Scandinavian countries and are a growing attraction in Mount Moreland. Angie Wilken, the chairman of the Lake Victoria Conservancy, said a record 4 000 people had visited the bird-viewing site there since the swallows returned in October last year.

Paul Buckley, the head of Global Programmes at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birdlife, said that the loss of Mount Moreland as a roost site would be felt throughout Europe. "Developments undertaken without good environmental protection as far away as KwaZulu-Natal may trigger their long-term decline right here on our doorsteps," he said.

Neil Smith, the conservation division manager at BirdLife South Africa, said the site was crucial for swallows and, if it were lost, one of Britain's most popular birds could also begin to disappear.

Moller said the Mount Moreland swallows had one of the longest routes of the 160 million swallows migrating between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa annually and there were fewer than 100 large roosting sites in Africa.

He said three clusters of swallows had been identified in Europe. One was from countries that included Britain and Denmark and roosted in South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana. Another from Spain and France returned to west Africa during the European winter, and the third, made up of "German" swallows, went to central African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

Moller said it was not known why the swallows returned to the same sites, though it was probably genetically determined.


This article was originally published on page 7 of Sunday Independent on January 14, 2007

ME TOO!!!

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

no its chirp chirp, ......aaaahhhhhh (going thru a Rolls Royce engine of a A340 ) :D

Are there any news from Pietermaritzburg High Court?

Not that i know of

oh dear, we suppose to be building by now!

oh dear, we suppose to be building by now!

im sure it will all be resolved and work will begin soon.

We are still in the time schedule. According to the bid's work on site has to be start in April.

Nailbiting stuff as we enter the final strait...

Not really I spoke 1 dickhead from G5 the otherday , he said earth works were scheduled for late Jan early Feb

King Shaka airport tender case postponed

The Pietermaritzburg High Court hearing into the validity of a legal challenge brought by construction group Grinaker-LTA against the tender process for the erection of a new airport to be built north of Durban has been postponed.

MD Eddie du Rand told Engineering News Online over the telephone that the hearing had been postponed because Dube TradePort was late in submitting its answer affidavit.

Grinaker-LTA's parent company, Aveng CEO Carl Grim said that, although it was yet to be finalised, the hearing would now probably take place in the second half of February.

“They are testing a number of dates,” he said.

However, Grim stressed that he hoped the judge would be able to reach a decision soon, as it was urgent for construction on the project to begin.

In December, the Ilembe consortium, led by Group Five and Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, was named as the preferred bidder to build the King Shaka airport, which will replace the existing Durban International Airport.

The Indiza group, which included Grinaker-LTA, was reportedly not considered because it did not meet certain tender requirements.

Both consortia prequalified for the tender in April 2006.

Grinaker-LTA, however, has claimed that the correct tender processes were not followed and that its document was unfairly excluded.

Grim said that the Ilembe consortium was appointed the preferred bidder, without Indiza group's bid having been fairly adjudicated.

“There are certain processes that need to happen when deciding on the preffered bidder, such as discussing the bids with the tenderer,” Grim stated. “This, among other things, didn't happen.”

The Dube TradePort incorporated, as its anchor component, the King Shaka International Airport.

The first step of the project would include the aeronautical footprint, the King Shaka International Airport, which will include a four-million-passenger-a-year terminal, runway, air-traffic control tower, fuel farm and related infrastructure.

The second step would be the trade zone, with full customs and excise facilities and bonded areas.

The new airport would be built, owned and operated by Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), while the Dube Tradeport would develop the nearby trade zone.

The Dube TradePort would see the establishment of an exciting state-of-the-art export development incorporating a new air platform linked with the seaports of Durban and Richards Bay, the company's website said.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/eng/news/breaking/?show=100746

Love how they dont do research and still say the airport will be 4million a year when we have already passed that mark!

Lets hope this meets a speedy resolve!

Wondering why Dube are late in sending his answer's. I think it was enough time for them to react.

Well I sent Dube tons of emails, will prob get replys late 2009

^^ why would they reply to u?

Love how they dont do research and still say the airport will be 4million a year when we have already passed that mark!

Lets hope this meets a speedy resolve!
almost passed that mark.?
1 (1) Johannesburg....17 035 000......11.0%
2 (2) Cairo...............10 657 000......11.8%
3 (3) Cape Town........7 068 000......17.4%
4 (4) Sharm el Sheikh..4 930 000........7.4%
5 (7) Casablanca........4 861 000.......27.8%
6 (5) Hurghada..........4 705 000.........2.8%
7 (6) Nairobi..............4 417 000.......10.4%
8 (9) Monastir...........4 232 000........15.4%
9 (12) Durban............3 916 000.......26.1%
10 (8) Lagos..............3 804 000........2.9%
11 (10) Tunis..............3 693 000.......7.1%
12 (11) Algiers............3 440 000.......3.2%
13 (17) Marrackech......2 539 000......52.3%
14 (13) Jerba..............2 446 000........9.2%
15 (16) Mauritius.........2 199 000........6.8%
16 (19) Addis Ababa.....2 152 000.......35.9%
17 (14) Abuja..............2 016 000.......-9.7%
18 (15) Luxor..............2 014 000.......-5.2%
19 (18) St Denis..........1 409 000......-11.8%
20 (23) Port Elizabeth...1 386 000........31.9%
21 (22) Agadir.............1 318 000........13.6%
22 (24) Dar es Salaam..1 211 000........19.8%
23 (26) Mombasa.........1 176 000........20.5%
24 (31) Luanda............1 070 000........44.0%
25 (29) Accra..............1 061 000........31.6%

cant belive marakesh is 2.5mil. Its the size of richards bay airport

Thats october mo...

^^ why would they reply to u?

COZ IM THE MAN! ...........Duh!,

nah just joking, had some idea's & propersitions for the airport, .......buisness wise.

Council's decided against plans to rename Durban airport cos the family of the dude it was to be named after aren't happy about him being honoured by a facility that's about to close. They're probably hoping for the new airport!

cant belive marakesh is 2.5mil. Its the size of richards bay airport

Massive growth since Easyjet & Ryanair started flying there. They fly hoards of people into any landing strip around europe.

Things have got to start happening really soon...

Fears for 2010 if King Shaka airport is delayed
January 31, 2007 Edition 1

Ingrid Oellermann

A delay in the construction of King Shaka International Airport in Durban could destroy any prospect of its completion in time for the 2010 World Cup and could result in Fifa downgrading Durban as a World Cup host city.

This warning is contained in an affidavit by Deon Cloete, Regional General Manager of Durban International and National Airports, in opposition to a high court application filed in Pietermaritzburg by Aveng (Africa) Limited and 12 other companies against Dube Tradeport, the KZN government, Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa), Group Five Construction, WBHO Limited, Mvelaphanda Holdings and Ilembe Consortium, seeking to halt the bidding process on grounds that the Indiza consortium was unfairly disqualified as a bidder, and submitting the decision ought to be reviewed and set aside. The case has been enrolled for trial in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on February 22 and 23.

The court is being asked to interdict Dube Tradeport, KZN government and Acsa from concluding negotiations with Group Five Construction WBHO, Mvelaphanda and Ilembe, or any agreement for the design, construction and maintenance of the airport and surrounding trade, support and agriculture zones.

Cloete submits that the purpose of the application is for Indiza to be reinstated as a bidder, and for the process of considering bids to go back to the point at which Indiza was disqualified. He says Indiza's bid clearly did not comply with the essential minimum requirements and that it is not a foregone conclusion it would most probably be selected as the preferred bidder if allowed to proceed with its bid.

Cloete said this was one of the largest commercial developments undertaken in SA and would stimulate the economy of the region. He said the construction of the airport had become a matter of "grave urgency" as the existing facilities at Durban International Airport were stretched beyond reasonable limit. "We are dealing with 4.5 million passengers a year and our facilities are close to and at times beyond saturation level."

Having taken the decision to commit to the construction of King Shaka International Airport there could be no going back, and its completion by the World Cup was crucial.

"The key date for the award of the contract is the beginning of March 2007, construction is to commence by June 15 2007, and the construction phase is to be completed by November 9 2009. By mid-February King Shaka International Airport is to be commissioned and handed over, and the airport will commence operations. This gives only four months to sort out any teething problems before the World Cup commences in June 2010."

An explosive growth in passenger numbers - 22% in the past year - was attributed to the advent of low-cost airlines making flying more accessible.

Durban International Airport could not handle the increased numbers and World Cup demands when 18 000 passengers a day were expected to pass through Durban.

The project management consultant of Aveng, Bryan Colledge, claims the bidding process was procedurally unfair.

According to the papers, Indiza was notified of a failure to comply with the essential minimum requirements in only three respects, or 2% of the items making up the requirements.

Indiza also alleges that details relating to its bid were passed on to its competitor, Ilembe, in breach of a non-disclosure agreement, and also that Ilembe was not excluded even though its bid allegedly also did not comply with essential minimum requirements.

Colledge complains that Dube Tradeport felt it necessary to afford Ilembe the opportunity to comment on Indiza's non-compliance, but did not afford Indiza the same opportunity.

"It is in everybody's interests, more particularly the ultimate owner, operator of the development and the country as a whole that a lawful, proper and fair adjudication of the process and Indiza's bid is proceeded with. To have only one bidder is totally inconsistent with a fair and equitable and competitive bid process. It is furthermore not in line with the Public Finance Management Act and would constitute an irresponsible allocation of public funds," he said.

lets hope the airport drama gets sorted soon.

Who knows, which Company will deliver the Specialist Airport Systems (Power Supply, Airfieldlighting, 400Hz Groundpower, FIDS, CUSS, CUTE, Airbridges, IT Network, Baggage Handling, AODB, Access Control, CCTV, etc) in Ilembe Consortium?

I wont be surprised if ABB do the switch gear, those guys do the switch gear for everything thats BIG, Petronas Towers, London Underground, Sydney Opera house, & the list go's on. & they based in Pinetown :D well one of their many factories around the world

Ok, that is for the Power Supply. But what about the real Specialist Systems?`Honeywell was throughn out from Ilembe during the Bid phase .

I know the guy thats doing the fire system, but cant mention his name or company, also met a dude from Eillies electrics, he said they going to be busy with the TV system at the airport, maybe P.A as well, told him to put proper speakers, so the announcements are clear & not muffled up like other airports!

Any objections if I join the forum.

I have a vested interest in Dube Tradeport. I kived in Mount Moreland for 10yrs, used to sit on the verhanda watching the swallows migrate.

I am now the in charge of control system design for an English/Singapore company based in London that manufactures aircraft cargo and bag handling systems, I am interested in keeping an eye on developments at King Chaka International. This forum seems about the most upto date source of information going.

Well that' will be just the problem, for every system a different supplier. So there will be a huge amount of companys doing there own thing. That means for the Projectmanagement a lot of trouble and a lot of risk. In my opinion there should be only one Company doing all the specialist systems.

Hi AndyP,

welcome to the forum. Are you working for Inter Roller?

Yes Inter-Roller is our parent company - I am with CDG Systems - Cargo specific.

Did you made an offer for Cargo and BHS to Ilembe?

Welcome Andy. The swallow thing has left me with very mixed feelings. I can't wait to see the new airport up and running but it must be done in a way that accommodates the swallows as well (that should be marketed as a big attraction). Hopefully a win-win solution will be found. It's important that issues like this are raised, just a pity that the various interest groups have chose the last minute to do so - thay've had about 30 years after all!!

dbl post

^^ there was an article in the area paper regarding hi tech radar equipment that is being brought in, and internationally reknowned experts are going to study the birds for the next 2 months as part of the designs of flight paths and the like and ways to minimise the impact of birds with jets in this specific case. its part of the eia...

Shows they are interested in the birds safety and peoples

andy join us on the introduction thread and tell us more about yourself

Well that' will be just the problem, for every system a different supplier. So there will be a huge amount of companys doing there own thing. That means for the Projectmanagement a lot of trouble and a lot of risk. In my opinion there should be only one Company doing all the specialist systems.

Well you see its going to be multiple companies, BUT each division will be incharge for their respective duties, like for eg: Electrical consultants will incharge of:

1) Power Application
2) Power Reticulation
3) Telecommunications
4) TV & Video
5) Access Control
6) P.A System
7) Lifts & Escualtor's (with help of Mech Eng)
8) Aircon system (with help of Mech Eng & Specialist A/C)
9) Ligthing Layouts
10) Standby Power
.... & the lists go's on

but for each duty, they have to have seperate companies doing the work, hence they are essentialy the "project managers" for these things.

welcome Andy, always nice to have another former onboard. Looking forward to hear your views on this whole thing.

To many different companys means to many different Interfaces and to many people in charge. With this tight time schedule it will be a problem for shure. In Indiza Consortium there would be only one supplier for the specialist electrical systems (with a lot of experience in airport projects).

I get what you saying, but multiple companies are not always bad

Rumours say that Dube Tradeport can't bring the evidence that the bid from Indiza is not complient and therefore the hearing was postponed.

Rumours say that Dube Tradeport can't bring the evidence that the bid from Indiza is not complient and therefore the hearing was postponed.

can't bring = Dube Tradeport have no evidence that Indiza's bid was not compliant?

Well that's what save sources say!

Hello again,

Sorry for making an appearance and then dissapearing but I had to go to Dubai!

I see the process for Dube is stoill stalled. I am sure it will eventually get sorted but it isn't looking good for the world cup!

We are doing a lot of work for the Chinese olympics - new BHS and ETV's for cargo facilities in Shanghai airport - but even with the pragmatic approach of the chinese who have had a lot more time than SA to prepare, there are delays that are going to take it very close to the wire.

As to my opinion on the swallows at Mt Moreland - as I said previously I have spent many an evening watching the Sparrows migrate - If you haven't seen them yet I suggest you do it now. I can see no possible way that the sparrows and the airport will be able to co-exist, this isn't just a case of scaring a few birds off the end of the runway - this is like a swarm of locusts - bird strike takes on a whole new meaning. I think they will have to find a way of forcing the birds to re-locate. Sad but inevitable I believe.

the airport and stadium issue quite scary since they are both such important projects.

^^Jee you think :crazy: I dont know if these guys understand the importance of the timing schedule, who is the porject manager's for these projects anyway?

^^ who are "these guys"? The people taking legal action dont care

^^ who are "these guys"? The people taking legal action dont care

'these guys' = the guys that are taking legal action,

so looks its a loose - loose situation :bash:

In my opinion Dube Tradeport should show the two different architectual designs from Ilembe Consortium and Indiza Consortium of King Shaka International Airport to the public. I mean the whole thing is also for the public to decide which airport design is the better one. And they should realy tell us now why the disqualified the one Consortium. Up to now there is no real explanation.

do u know the 2 designs?

they should realy tell us now why the disqualified the one Consortium. Up to now there is no real explanation.


I think the newpaper articles have spelled things out - the disqualifid consortium failed to meet the requirements which were in the tender documents. I would have expeceted them to exceed these - be they BEE targets, etc. At the end of the day, the court will decide, but I dont think any judge would rule in Grinaker's favour if they did not comply with requirements, especially when one considers the time pressures.

^^ But, as Chrineu pointed out, the public don't know in what specific ways Indiza failed to meet the tender requirements.

...yes and then first hearing at court was postponed because Dube could not bring the necessary documents and prove that there was something wrong. In fact up to now they only say that the bid documents failed to meet the tender requirements. Why don't the say what requirements were failed. Yes I know both design's and I was present at the presentation of the two bids on 27th of October in Durban. Most of the people there favoured the Indiza design.

At the end of the day Chrineu, while you do make valid points, i feel you are too closely tied to Grinnaker to be considered impartial in this matter

...not at all. I'm not working for Grinaker and I don't know them either. But I do know there design, I do know there price (ZAR 600.000.000 less than Group5).
What I don't know are the disqualification points.
In overseas it could not happen that if one bidder would be disqualified the other one would receive the award. In such cases there would be a new bid process to.

CORRECT, ON BIG PROJECT WHERE WE AWARD TENDERS THROU OUR pMS , IN THE PRE QUAL DOC WE HAVE A CLAUSE THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE A MIN OF 2 FINAL CANDIDATES OR WE START AGAIN AAAHh shit caps

Yes but I think that nobody knows that Clause here.
If they give Group5 the award like that, they have no chance to get a reduction on price and Dube have to pay the full amount of it.
And we taxpayer also have to pay for it.
Immagine what they could build for the price difference of ZAR 600.000.000,- - (Hospitals, Schools, Roads, even Soccer Stadion).

^^ i do hear what u saying there

^^
I agree with the above sentiments - we did not put any tenders in for this project but on most others tenders there must definately be a minimum of 2 bids. What about the massive difference between the two bids? R6000 000 000 - this should be a warning bell for someone.

Someone mentioned earlier that the technical solution for Dube is to provided by a single vender? - surely this can only be Siemens!:)

Siemens made the complete technical Solution for Indiza (Grinaker). I'm not shure who did it for Group5.(Airbiss?, Du Toit?)

As you can see on bottom, now they increase slowly the sum for King Shaka!!



Acsa increases capex budget fourfold to cope with growth
February 16, 2007

By Samantha Enslin

Durban - Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has ramped up its capital expenditure commitments to R19.3 billion from R5.2 billion to meet expected growth in passenger traffic beyond 2010.

The new La Mercy airport north of Durban and further extensions to the international airports in Johannesburg and Cape Town figure in the plans.

Brooks Mparutsa, Acsa's financial director, said yesterday: "These are big projects. We need to plan well ahead."

The airport operator expects passenger numbers to rise 7 percent a year between 2008 and 2012. It is already spending R5.2 billion to increase capacity to cope with traffic up to 2009.

Mparutsa said: "We are building for demand we anticipate for 2010 to 2012."

Acsa expects its nine airports to handle 31 million passengers in the 12 months to March, up from 28.8 million passengers in the previous year.

Earlier this week, the company said it had registered a R12 billion bond programme to run until March 31 2012. The first bond would be issued this quarter.

Mparutsa said the cost of the new King Shaka International Airport at La Mercy was still being finalised.

It is intended to be completed by the end of 2009, but a legal wrangle over the tender may delay construction. Aveng subsidiary Grinaker-LTA is challenging the tender award to a Group Five team. The case goes to court next week.


Mparutsa said: "The building must go ahead. We need La Mercy for 2010 and beyond. Our plans are that La Mercy should be completed before 2010."

The cost of the new Durban airport has surged from R2.5 billion to R4 billion due to a change in design from the original plan developed by Dube Tradeport, a company formed by the provincial government to drive the project.

Acsa finally agreed last year to build and operate the new airport.

Dube Tradeport's chief executive, Rohan Persad, said yesterday: "Acsa changed the tender specifications to a world-class hi-tech terminal."

Acsa's increased capital spending plans include a new midfield terminal at OR Tambo International Airport and a new domestic terminal at Cape Town International Airport.

Work already under way at OR Tambo includes additional duty-free space and the Pier One development to handle the new Airbus A380 and more passengers through air bridges.

Well surely thats to be expected? the R2billion figure was quoted 3 years ago. ACSA have demanded certain design changes from the original dube scheme, also the terminal has been upscaled in size from the previous plans and building costs have soared so i see nothing wrong in it at all. dont even think its a prob if it reaches R6billion

Regardless of the figure, it's great to see the city is getting a 'world-class high-tech' airport. Will surely help if the city is going to bid for any big events, like the Commonwealth or Olympic Games. Can't wait for 2010 to see all these completed projects. How exciting!

Finally the truth is comming out and Grinaker and a buch of low lifes and they are seroiusly non-complient and I agree they should have been excluded from the tender. They should also be sueeid by the governmnet and G5 for fucking around, wasting everyones time and money and generally being a nusience

Judge to rule on Grinaker-LTA interdict today
February 23, 2007

By Samantha Enslin

Durban - Aveng subsidiary Grinaker-LTA, which took the Dube Tradeport, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government to court yesterday over the R4 billion King Shaka International Airport construction contract, will today know whether an interdict halting negotiations with the preferred bidder will be granted.

Judge Jan Hugo will make his ruling at 2pm.

Grinaker-LTA, which was one of two shortlisted bidders, wants an urgent interim interdict preventing Acsa and the Dube Tradeport from finalising the contract with preferred bidder Group Five.

Grinaker-LTA is separately applying for the tender to be reviewed and set aside, claiming that it was procedurally unfair.

Alternatively, it wants the decision to exclude it from the bidding and tendering set aside.

But the Dube Tradeport, which managed the tender process, alleged that the Grinaker-LTA consortium's bid was not evaluated because it was not compliant.

Bids were expected to be materially and substantially compliant with 151 minimum requirements on technical, black economic empowerment (BEE), commercial and legal issues.

The bid by Grinaker-LTA was considered non-compliant because it failed to put up the stipulated 10 percent performance guarantee and did not meet the requirement for 70 percent BEE procurement spend, said the Dube Tradeport.


Grinaker-LTA offered a 5 percent guarantee and about 45 percent BEE spend.

Rohan Persad, the chief executive of the Dube Tradeport, said this was a shortfall in the required BEE spend in Grinaker-LTA's bid of more than R1 billion.

A performance guarantee, which is standard in construction contracts, is a percentage of the total value of the contract to cover any failure by the bidder.

This is over and above a R750 000 a day damages for late delivery of the airport, which must be finished by November 9 2009.

Hugo said Grinaker-LTA, by including a lower performance guarantee, was therefore able to submit a lower bid.

Bruce Burman, senior counsel for Grinaker-LTA, said the fact that the construction company had not complied with these requirements was insufficient grounds to exclude it from evaluation as these were just two of many requirements.

Grinaker-LTA also argued that the technical evaluation team could not conceivably have assessed its bid in 14 days.

^^ But, as Chrineu pointed out, the public don't know in what specific ways Indiza failed to meet the tender requirements.

we do now, read my last post^^

Sons of bitch's, they know we were trying to get this airport out of the ground from the 1960's! I agree with you Giles, they should be fined by the courts for haulting progress, & also they should send in men free of charge to help G5 to get the building up to date in its time frame for completion

That just seems like they are time wasting. and how dare they state it is but 2 things they didnt comply with and insufficent to bar them. BULL. Those are two MAJOR requirements. Slap them on the ass and lets get on with the building NOW