Saint Helena Airport

Saint Helena Airport is a proposed airport that will be constructed in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. From the 1960s there was an idea to build an airport on the St Helena Island. In 1999 this was taken up by the island government. An effect of the financial market crisis was that the plans were provisionally reset by the British government in December 2008. The airport was scheduled to be open by 2010, but the date is now 2015, by which time the RMS Saint Helena will be retired. The airport is due to be built on Prosperous Bay Plain, on the east side of Saint Helena. By its advocates, it is hoped that the airport will bring much needed economic growth to the isolated island economy.

The airport is currently proposed to have a runway of length 2,250 m (7,382 ft), and to be capable of accommodating twinjet passenger aircraft up to the size of the Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and also Boeing 757-200. These aircraft may potentially operate services to the UK, Ascension Island and Cape Town, and possibly Walvis Bay in Namibia, although the Ascension Island link is still subject to negotiation between the FCO and the US Defense Department.

In November 2011 a new deal between the British government and South African company Basil Read was signed and now means the airport is proposed to open in 2015, with flights to and from South Africa.^[1]

Controversy

According to Private Eye magazine, all of the companies tendering for the job of building and running the airport had by late September, 2006 withdrawn from bidding for the project, which was to be funded by the Department for International Development (DfID). The local Access Office explained that the reasons were unclear but it seems the bidders considered the DfID has been unhelpful by not providing the possibility of on-site investigations in order to complete a detailed design before providing a fixed price for the project. According to the DfID's Director for Overseas Territories, his department remains committed to an airport for St Helena but at the time of the article there were no new bidders.^[2]

DfID re-started the procurement process to identify a suitable Design, Build and Operate contractor in October 2006. Capability Statements were received by DfID in March 2007 and four bidders were pre-approved for the Design, Build and Operator contract and a further three applicants have been pre-approved for the Air Service Provider contract. The applicants for the DBO visited the island for six months from June 2007 before submitting their final proposals, and as of January 2008 DfID is down to a shortlist of two bidders.

It was reported in The Guardian on 10 December 2008 that UK Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander had announced a "pause in negotiations over the St Helena airport contract",^[3] apparently related to the 2008 economic downturn.

The St. Helena Leisure Corporation (Shelco) was set up by Arup's Sir Nigel Thompson and Berwin Leighton Paisner's Robert Jones, planning to construct luxury resorts and a hotel to be run by Oberoi Hotels & Resorts in conjunction with the airport. The real estate was to be sold even before construction had started; the proposal was turned down by the local government and the DfID.^[4]

Prosperous Bay Plain is one of the few remaining sites on Saint Helena that holds significant ecological diversity; according to a 2004 review by Atkins Management Consultants, the survival of numerous endemic species critically depend on preservation and protection of the location; it also is an important nesting site for the Wirebird, Saint Helena's national bird which is nearly extinct. Although Shelco still continues to be a major force pushing for the airport's construction, its co-founder Sir Nigel is the chairman of the environmental charity Campaign to Protect Rural England.^[4][5][6]

See also

• Transport on Saint Helena

References

1. ^ BBC News Remote UK island colony of St Helena to get airport (3 November 2011)
2. ^ "Departure Delayed". Private Eye, No. 1167, 15–28 September 2006.
3. ^ Owen Bowcott: "[1]". The Guardian, December 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-DEC-10.
4. ^ ^{a b} David Lawson: "Island in the Sun". Property Week, September 30, 2005. Retrieved 2007-AUG-29.
5. ^ Robin Stummer and Daniel Howden: "Battle for St Helena. Ezilon Infobase, Oct 20, 2005. Retrieved 2007-AUG-28.
6. ^ World Wide Fund for Nature: Ecoregions - St. Helena scrub and woodlands (AT0720). Retrieved 2007-AUG-28.

External links

• Shelco website
• DFID Website on air access