Sunday, January 29, 2012
UK resumes St Helena airport project to access Malvinas
The UK decided to resume a US$400 million airport project on St. Helena Island, the last exile home of defeated French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The go-ahead was greeted in the Malvinas Islands as a much-needed lifeline after the latest diplomatic tensions between the UK and Argentina.
Both Malvinas and St. Helena are miles from London's central government but an airport on St. Helena will transform the island and provide a seven-hour link to the South Atlantic archipelago -reasonable when compared with air services to and from Europe.
Currently the 75-square-kilometre island is accessed by a British postal service ship, which operates from Cape Town, South Africa.
Accessibility was an issue for bidders as well. Despite the size of the contract, only one bidder came forward. Thus, South African engineering group Basil Read won the contract and would design, build and operate the airport.
The project will involve a small airport building, a short runway, connect roads, a small harbor terminal, ancillary works, as well as the installation of air-traffic control systems.
New technology called "engineered material arresting system" would allow the airport to receive larger aircraft on the short runway, likely to be a little more than 1.6 kilometre long.
Current plans call for the airport to be ready by 2015 -the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Napoleon as a prisoner in exile following his defeat at the battle of Waterloo.
Analysts said the St. Helena government's decision to finally go ahead with the airport, after long delays, appeared driven in part by concerns over a continuing tense standoff with Argentina.
The island is about 6,100 kilometres -seven hours and 40 minutes flight time- from the Malvinas. But, analysts said that was an improvement over the present state of isolation from London for both St. Helena and the Malvinas.
More than 400 St. Helena natives live in the Malvinas Islands. Since the standoff with Argentina began in 2009 Britain has built up its military presence in the South Atlantic.
UK forces destined for combat duty in Afghanistan and Iraq have been training in the Malvinas. An airport in St. Helena would significantly facilitate traffic between the Malvinas and destinations in the United Kingdom and beyond, analysts said.
Both Malvinas and St. Helena are miles from London's central government but an airport on St. Helena will transform the island and provide a seven-hour link to the South Atlantic archipelago -reasonable when compared with air services to and from Europe.
Currently the 75-square-kilometre island is accessed by a British postal service ship, which operates from Cape Town, South Africa.
Accessibility was an issue for bidders as well. Despite the size of the contract, only one bidder came forward. Thus, South African engineering group Basil Read won the contract and would design, build and operate the airport.
The project will involve a small airport building, a short runway, connect roads, a small harbor terminal, ancillary works, as well as the installation of air-traffic control systems.
New technology called "engineered material arresting system" would allow the airport to receive larger aircraft on the short runway, likely to be a little more than 1.6 kilometre long.
Current plans call for the airport to be ready by 2015 -the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Napoleon as a prisoner in exile following his defeat at the battle of Waterloo.
Analysts said the St. Helena government's decision to finally go ahead with the airport, after long delays, appeared driven in part by concerns over a continuing tense standoff with Argentina.
The island is about 6,100 kilometres -seven hours and 40 minutes flight time- from the Malvinas. But, analysts said that was an improvement over the present state of isolation from London for both St. Helena and the Malvinas.
More than 400 St. Helena natives live in the Malvinas Islands. Since the standoff with Argentina began in 2009 Britain has built up its military presence in the South Atlantic.
UK forces destined for combat duty in Afghanistan and Iraq have been training in the Malvinas. An airport in St. Helena would significantly facilitate traffic between the Malvinas and destinations in the United Kingdom and beyond, analysts said.
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