ABB Primkop Airport Management - Business
Mbuyane community - CSO

ABB’s Primkop Airport Management (Pty) Limited has built its first wholly owned airport in Primkop, situated 25km from Nelspruit, 10km from the Maputo Corridor and centrally located between the Kruger and Malelane Gates of the Kruger National Park. The airport has an African theme architecture and interior design and is constructed to accommodate the Boeing 737, 747, 767 and the Airbus series.

From the application for the development of the proposed airport in 1997 to the near completion of the airport in 2002, this project has become an example of sustainable development encompassing the 3 main principles of sustainability: the non-declining stock of social, environmental and economic capital.

This project includes many innovative approaches to environmental and social responsibility. It looks at how intricate economic, social and environmental trade offs were made and how the impact on the environment was minimised and the benefits for the local community and economy were maximised. The main environmental and social aspects of the project dealt here are the aspects of air traffic and noise (due to the proximity of the Kruger National Park), stormwater runoff, employment and social aspects.

The southern region of the Kruger National Park (KNP) is a mere 20 km away from the airport site. This region has been identified and is currently being developed as a pristine wilderness area with more stringent environmental restrictions than the rest of the park. Consequently the Park, together with SA national parks, raised their concerns regarding noise levels generated by future air traffic. ABB thus underwent another separate noise assessment to determine the noise impact of aircraft flying past and taking off from the proposed airport.

Another important issue that arose was that of stormwater mixed with polluting substances running off from the airport runway into the ground and contaminating the surrounding farmland and the various dams 0.5-1 km away from the site. These dams are currently used to irrigate the surrounding land, which is predominantly used for growing tobacco, which is incidentally a very sensitive plant to changes in water quality. To accommodate for this ABB designed and constructed oil separators to ensure that the run off oil would go into a series of catchment points near the terminal building for further recycling.

Social issues have always been a delicate subject with development projects. This project involved the community surrounding the site, namely the Mbuyane community, into a series of discussions and public consultations, thus reaching a formal agreement with ABB that gives the community a 10% stake of the KMI airport and R5 for each passenger departing from the airport. This revenue will go into a committee set up according to the government CFA encompassing 15 members of the community, which can be used for further community development.

The economic feasibility of the project is achieved by its strategic position as it provides direct access to popular tourist destinations such as Sabi Sabi Game reserve, the Blyde river Canyon Nature Reserve and the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park that includes South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The noise assessment study measured the ambient noise levels of the southern region of the KNP and compared it to noise levels during various flypasts and simulated take off. The measurements were conducted on 3 positions situated inside the KNP (vis 14km inside, 7km inside and on the border respectively). The study concluded that the aircraft activities were not audible at any time in neither of the positions.

To accomodate for stormwater runoff, ABB designed and constructed oil separators to ensure that the runoff oil would go into a series of catchment points near the terminal building for further recycling, thus ensuring environmental protection.

This is an ongoing project and as such community benefits will be further incurred as soon as the airport starts working. The same reasoning also applies for environmental damages. Only during the operational phase can we monitor how effective will the changes made to the airport be.

Nevertheless, as described above, the impacts predicted are in summary a boost to the local economy through the partnership created with the local community, the creation of jobs and the incentives to business creation. Already, the airport management has so far employed 750 people for the construction phase, most of whom are from the local community and it is expected to create more jobs in the site during the operational phase. Finally, the airport is expected to generate an incentive for further investment resulting in more job creations in the surrounding areas.

This project provides an example of how the delicate balance between the three pilars of sustainability can be achieved. Furthermore, it also provides a basis for replicability inside and ouside South Africa. The 4 main conclusions that can be taken out from this project that enable it to achieve sustainability and that should serve as a guideline to other projects are:

1) When choosing projects to fund, international and national companies should take into consideration projects related to key economic sectors essential to the country´s future development. In this case, the airport project chose Tourism and Export as the main sectors due to the surrounding environment, its resources and its location (close to Swaziland and Mozambique).

2) The project should emulate the responsible way in which the company has handled all the sustainability issues. I.e it should take into consideration the possible environmental, social and economic impacts of the project.

3) The project should provide innovative guidelines for other projects in environmental and socially sensitive areas. In this case, as the project was close to the Kruger Park as well as the Mbyune community, it took into more detailed consideration aspect regarding to noise levels, water quality and employment.

4) The project should therefore go beyond the studies required such as the EIA and feasibility studies. In this case, a separate noise study specifically for the Kruger Park was undertaken. Noise level standars were much lower than required and it was innovative in the way it included community participation, an often ignored aspect of sustainability.

This project is unique due to its commitment to meet and go beyond the standard requirements. Innovative approaches include actual noise simulations over the Kruger Park to record the actual noise levels done by the airport aircraft. Attention to details regarding the environment was a major factor in this project. Examples of this include water quality treatment to prevent any polluted run off into the dams surrounding the airport, which could have an affect on the tobacco farming in the area as well as the protection of a water spring inside the airport ground, which provides the community with fresh water.

A sustainable economic model for the local community has also been developed. The project does not only provide employment to the local population, but also gives the community a 10% stake of the KMI airport and R5 for each passenger departing from the airport. Thus, the project provides for long term rather than short term development. Not only is the agreement innovative, but the actual setting up of the partnership between the company and the community was also a novelty. From the several meetings held, 15 members were chosen by the community to represent them and to manage the fund.

Finally, the unique African design of the airport that blends into the environment is also different from standard airports. Primkop and its surroundings is an area of prestine beauty and scenary. Constructing a modern cement airport was not in line with the landscape. The result was a lodge-looking airport that makes the tourist feel as if he has landed in the middle of the bush.

This project encompasses several partnerships. Some are more visible than others. The main parternships include a partership between the international Investors (ABB Energy Ventures) and the local companies and country ( ABB South Africa, Primkop Airport Management and Neslpruit Airport Management). This is a pure business partnership where the Neslpruit Airport Management will be responsible for managing the aiport during its operation.

The second type of partership is a social contract between ABB South Africa and the local Mbuyane community of 30´000 people. This contract was achieved through a series of meetings with the community. The meetings were always attended by a government official and took into account the community´s concerns and requirements. The end result of these meetings was the agreement by which the Mbuyane community now owns 10% of the project as well as collects revenue from each passenger embarking (R5). These meetings also resulted in a committee of 15 community elected representatives who manage the funds gained from the project. This fund will provide long term benefits that can be used for social development, includeing the building of community centres, schools, sporting facilities and roads. The communiy therefore has an incentive to contribute towards the success of this venture.

The last partnerships involve the local company (ABB SA) and the local surrounding environments such as the Krueger Park, Tourist operators. ABB SA commits itself to this community to ensure a sustainable project that will bring benefits to all parties involved.