Swaziland’s Sikhuphe Airport, the multi-billion rand
vanity project of King Mswati III, has construction flaws and is likely to be
unusable, a South African newspaper has claimed.
The Mail and
Guardian reported it had two confidential technical reports by engineer Derrick
Dlamini alleging that there were major structural defects in the airport’s concrete
apron and ‘that it is unfit for use by large commercial aircraft’.
The Swazi Government has denied the claim. Percy
Simelane, the Swaziland government spokesperson, said the state was ‘absolutely’
satisfied with the work done.
The newspaper also said that there might be ‘widespread
fraud and other irregularities’ at the airport, but did not give details.
The newspaper reported the cost of the airport was in the
region of R2.36 billion (US$236 million), but estimates in the past have put
the cost much higher. One report in 2010, in the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by the king, estimated
it could
be as much as US$1 billion.
The king has been the leading force behind the airport
which is being built in a wilderness in eastern Swaziland, about 80km from the
kingdom’s capital, Mbabane. No needs analysis was done before the project started
and to date no airline has agreed to use the airport, which is many years
behind schedule for completion. Swaziland already has an underused airport at
Matsapha, close to both the kingdom’s capital, Mbabane, and its main commercial
city, Manzini.
The newspaper reported Sikhuphe airport was scheduled to
open later this year (2013).
Sikhuphe is an on-going project to build an
‘international airport’. Since the idea for the airport was first raised by
King Mswati, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, more than
10 years ago independent observers have called it a waste of resources.
As long ago as 2003, the International Monetary Fund
said it should not
be built because it would divert funds away from much needed projects to
fight poverty in Swaziland. About seven in ten of King Mswati’s 1.1 million
subjects live in abject poverty, earning less than US$2 per day.
Meanwhile, the king has a lavish lifestyle, including a
personal fortune, once estimated by Forbes
magazine to be US$200 million, 13 palaces, a private jet and fleets of
top-of-the range Mercedes and BMW cars.
See also
KING’S VANITY COMES BEFORE THE POOR
DOUBTS OVER PROSPECTS FOR AIRPORT
PROOF: KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS
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