Johannesburg - Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) says it will be ready for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, having just concluded the first year of its biggest-ever capital expenditure programme as it gears up for the football spectacle.
The country's biggest airports are undergoing extensive development in the lead-up to the tournament, with Acsa expecting to open a major terminal in September 2008 at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, and Cape Town airport will be ready in 2009.
"I'm telling you we will be ready for 2010, ? said Acsa chairperson Franklin Sonn, speaking at the presentation of Acsa's full-year results to end-March.
Sonn joked that if Acsa wasn't ready by 2010, "nobody would be able to find him", and that he would "leave Transport Minister Jeff Radebe?s personal contact number behind for the public".
Acsa said that in financial 2008, it spent R5.2bn in capital expenditure on its OR Tambo Airport and Cape Town International Airport, as well as other domestic airports like Bloemfontein, Upington and Kimberly.
Giving some highlights of the results, Acsa MD Monhla Hlahla said Acsa's capital expenditure increased by 214.9% for the year to end-March, from the R1.7bn reported in financial 2007. Revenue rose 9.1% to R2.8bn and passanger traffic was up 10.6% to 36.2 million.
Profit down
Net profit declined by 17.8% to R546m, but Hlahla said that this "was still an achievement" as Acsa "had to face challenging economic regulatory decisions and an unsympathetic economic climate during the reporting period".
Looking at the progress of Acsa's projects, Sonn said that customers would already start seeing changes within the next year.
In addition to the new terminal at OR Tambo and the revamp at Cape Town International Airport, Durban International Airport will be decommissioned before the World Cup kicks off.
"By the end of 2009, you will already start to see that most partitions [in airports] will be removed,? he said, adding that Acsa is "ready to satisfy SA".
This is the first year of a five-year permission cycle for which Acsa has R22bn at its disposal - the largest capital expenditure amount in Acsa's 15-year history.
Hlahla said that in the past, R5.2bn represented three years of capital expenditure, but the company spent this amount in financial 2008 alone. She said that 62% of its R22bn capital expenditure programme will happen by Acsa's 2010 full year-end.
"But it's required to facilitate the growth in this country and this soccer world cup,? she said.
Speaking at the presentation, the minister of transport Jeff Radebe said: "Airports are long-term assets, which have a 20-year life span. We need to understand its value to the SA economy as well as for us [government] as its shareholder."
He said the nation - both government and investors - need to show it Acsa their support.
In addition, government, as Acsa's biggest shareholder, has allowed the airport company to engage in 60% debt. Currently, it is only at 47% debt.
Within its next financial year, Acsa will focus on its expansion projects as it hopes to have all projects completed to enable the facilitation of the World Cup.
"We anticipate that we will be able to take full advantage of the soccer world cup, using the peak in passenger numbers to recover value for ourselves," said Hlahla.
- Fin24.com