The Swazi public have been banned from
visiting the new King Mswati III Airport in Swaziland in case they wear out
floor tiles in the passenger lounge.
The no-visitors directive has been issued by
the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA). The airport, formerly known as
Sikhuphe, was opened in March 2014, but no commercial flights have used it and
none are planned.
The cost so far of the airport is E3 billion
(US$300 million), much of the money came from the Swazi taxpayer.
King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, issued a directive that the airport
should remain in sublime condition.
The Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland and a
critic of the building of the airport, reported SWACAA Director Solomon Dube
saying the airport was not a museum or a mall. He also said visitors were
banned for ‘security reasons’.
The newspaper reported him saying, ‘Everyone should cool down and stay
away from the airport for now. This arrangement goes in line with the call from
His Majesty the King, who said it should be kept in sublime condition.’
Dube said letting people into the facility could cause damage to some
parts of the infrastructure, such as the ceramic tiles on the floor for the
building.
‘Ceramic tiles are expensive and their disproportionate use could damage
them and it would cost us a lot of money to replace them. We also do not want
the structure to age before passengers and airlines even use it,’ he
said.
The airport is under 24-hour guard by the Royal Swaziland Police who
worked with private security firms to ensure that anxious visitors who were
excited by the structure were kept out of the facility, the Times reported.
The airport, dubbed King Mswati’s ‘vanity project,’ needs about 400,000
passengers a year to break even.
See also
‘KING’S AIRPORT STILL HAS NO LICENCE’
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