27 Aug 2017

A multimillion pula State of the art airport is yet to be established in Palapye Sub-district near Moremi village.

The envisaged Mophane International Airport will be constructed on a piece of land measuring 2 400ha near Moremi village.

The airport, which will be designed to the latest international standards with a projected runway of 5 200m is a baby of 123 Dimensions, a 100 per cent citizen owned Aviation Company.

With a runway of 5 200m, the airport will be able to accomodate ICAO 3C/D standard 787-800 airbuses, which are unable to land at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport due to limited space.

The director of 123 Dimensions, Mr William Maje informed the ongoing Palapye Sub-council meeting on August 23 that the new airport project was currently at planning stage while construction was expected to take off between 2019 and 2021.

The project, he said would address a lot of challenges faced by this country in the area of air transport.

He said currently this country was losing so much revenue in air transport to South Africa because of lack of cargo airport.

He said when Batswana order goods abroad they entered South Africa first before being transported to their final destination, adding that so much revenue was lost in the process because pricing for cargo was high.

Adding to the Air transport woes is limitation of flight landing, lack of hangers as well as obsolete fueling systems.

He said therefore Mophane International Airport would address these challenges, adding that it would pride itself with the latest advanced fuelling system, hangers and would improve transportation of goods to international markets.

He said his company consulted many stakeholders, majority of which had shown immense interest in the airport.

Among those stakeholders, he said was Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), which had a herculean task of transporting beef to the lucrative European Union market.

He said currently the BMC was losing a lot of revenue to South Africa, adding that having an airport of this magnitude would enable the construction of storage facilities for beef as well as easier transportation of goods, which would cut on the costs.

The project will also entail the construction of a top class mall, residentials and associated amenities as well as bus and train inter exchange.

The project, he said is expected to create employment for Batswana calling for councillors to give it the support it deserves.

In addition, he said his company was considering to build document banks for storage purposes, adding that the three local document banks were full, hence companies had resorted to renting document banks in South Africa, as such creating employment for South Africans.

He said currently his aim was to bring this service here and create employment for the locals.

Councillors gave the project a green light.

They commended 123 Dimensions for undertaking a project of this magnitude, adding that it was impressive to see the youth drive developments.

They thanked 123 Dimensions, adding that it is going to develop and create employment in the sub-district. Ends