PRETORIA – Thursday, 18th September, 2014 – AIRPORT S Company South Africa Limited (ACSA) has expressed interest in partnering with the Zambian aviation industry by offering technical aviation services to airports in the country.
ACSA Group Commercial Executive, Mr. Haroon Jeena said when his team met Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Mr. Muyeba Chikonde, in Pretoria today, that his company would be interested to forge a strategic partnership with the Zambian civil aviation authorities in developing airports in Zambia.
Mr. Jeena said ACSA which owns and operates nine of South Africa’s principal airports, had embarked on a mission to offer its services to the rest of Africa and that it was in this vain that it looked at Zambia as a potential partner.
He said ACSA had skilled manpower and the experience to offer consultancy from the planning stage for airports right through to management and raising operational finance. He said ACSA’s concept was to make airports operate sustainably and without being a burden on Governments.
Mr. Jeena said ACSA won a bid to manage the development, maintenance and operation of Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil and currently has a 10 per cent interest in a consortium which was awarded a 30-year concession to manage Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India. ACSA also plans to bid for similar works in Ghana.
Mr. Chikonde noted that ACSA’s projects were worthwhile for countries such as Zambia which were trying to diversify their economies to sectors such as tourism which relied to a large extent on well managed ports of entry such as airports.
The High Commissioner pledged to support the intentions of ACSA by linking them to the relevant authorities in Zambia.
He pointed out that ACSA could still participate in other airport projects apart from the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport whose expansion project was recently awarded to contractors.
Mr. Chikonde said he was happy that ACSA’s emphasis was on ensuring that projects operated sustainably and without reliance on external funding, which was what the Zambian Government would like to see.
He commended ACSA, for operating profitably as a parastatal, which was a huge challenge in most cases.
Mr. Chikonde was accompanied by First Secretary for Economic and Trade issues, Mr. Mande Kauseni.
Others in Mr. Jeena’s team were Group Coordinator for Commercial Benchmarking and Special Projects, Ms. Elsie Rateiwa, and Commercial Manager for Regional Airports, Mr. Cassius Flayser.
Issued by:
Nicky Shabolyo
PRESS SECRETARY
HIGH COMMISSION OF ZAMBIA IN SOUTH AFRICA
Mobile: 00 27 810027548 Email: press@zambiapretoria.net; nshabolyo@gmail.com