CONSTRUCTION HAS started on the first phase of the R270million Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), 25km from Nelspruit, and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2002.
The first phase includes the construction of a 2 600km long runway, terminal buildings and an apron. This will cater for all regional flights, with connections to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban within the country, and to Victoria Falls and Harare in Zimbabwe, and Maputo in Mozambique.
Walter Ringelmann, regional marketing manager for airport developers ABB South Africa, says the second phase will begin in 2005. This will involve the extension of the runway by a further 3,5km and construction of additional terminal buildings to cater for intercontinental flights.
The first phase, he says, has been designed to accommodate the upgrading that will need to take place during the second phase.
"We have positioned the terminal building in such a manner that we will be able to build on either side of it in a modular fashion, while the compaction and hardness of the runway will enable
it to be upgraded to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft."
ABB owns 90% of Primkop Airport Management (Pam), the owners and managers of the airport, whose managing director John Manning has stated that the airport will bring a new dimension to the Maputo Corridor.
"From September 2002, there will be a bigger airport with international status along the corridor and full cargo facilities," he says.
Primkop Airport gets moving
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