'R200bn' Vaal airport poser

PIE-IN-THE-SKY INSANITY - THE PROVINCE CAN BARELY SUSTAIN TWO AIRPORTS

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The most bizarre thing about last week's "announcement" of a new R200 billion airport in the Sedibeng area near the Vaal is that it wasn't formally announced by Gauteng MEC of Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile at all. Not a single reference to this, however oblique, appears in the written medium-term budget policy statement speech. In fact, bizarrely, the only mention of airports is specifically related to "the establishment of one of Africa's first aerotropolis cities, which includes the expansion of the OR Tambo Airport precinct".

Maile did speak about the project in various interviews. He reportedly told the SABC: "We've got a new airport coming in Sedibeng which will see, I think, investment of anything between R20 billion and R200 billion from the private sector. In fact, it's about R200 billion, and we will be working with DTIC [department of trade, industry and competition] investing in bulk for that project".

The airport will ostensibly be part of the Vaal Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which exists to "reignite the birthplace of industrialisation in South Africa". The plan is for the SEZ to be "South Africa's preeminent hub for the hydrogen economy". Sure.

R200bn cost impossible