Times Of Swaziland: MILLIONS TO MAINTAIN SIKHUPHE

MILLIONS TO MAINTAIN SIKHUPHE
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BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE on 26/01/2014 07:47:00


MBABANE – A South African company has been awarded a E35 million per year
contract without an open tender for, among other things, loading and offloading
luggage bags from aircraft at Sikhuphe International Airport.
The contract is specifically for ground handling services, a service which most
of the airlines usually do for themselves without outsourcing.
This raises questions on why so much money will be spent on one company.
However, the company and others involved are not being blamed for any
wrongdoing.
Only the government officials who awarded the closed tenders are being
criticised by observers close to the same project.
Documents in the possession of the Times SUNDAY reveal high costs of maintaining
the Sikhuphe International Airport.
It can be said that about E3 billion was spent on building the airport.
Airlink Swaziland, for instance, has employees who provide similar services at
Matsapha International Airport.
Disgruntled staff at Sikhuphe International Airport note that Swaziland has not
yet bought an airline but had awarded a lucrative contract to a ground handling
company.
An expert close to Sikhuphe and King Shaka International Airport in Durban,
South Africa, disclosed to this newspaper that the latter, for similar services,
annually spends around E2.6 million.
It can be said that ground handlers provide essential landside and airside
services to the air transport industry.
Landside services include ticketing and baggage handling at check-in desks while
airside services include ramp handling, fuelling and de-fuelling, aircraft
maintenance and the provision of catering services.
They also offload bags, clean the aircraft, collect waste and dispose of it and
freshen the interior of the aircraft using sprays.
The Project Management Committee (PMU) is understood to be in the process of
handing over Antroma, the South African company, to the Swaziland Civil Aviation
Authority (SWACAA), to facilitate payment of E2.9 million per month for ground
handling at the airport.
Antroma is not the only company that was given a contract without open
tendering.
There are four more companies, in total, including Antroma, that will be paid
E3.8 million per month for rendering various services.
One of the companies, Combuston Investment, will be paid E480 000 per month for
cleaning and grass cutting. It is stated in the documents that Combuston
Investments has been given a contract of six months but impeccable sources close
to the airport’s finances said the six-month period was renewable.
San Project will be paid E188 000 per month for solid and medical waste
management while Steel Max Investment will be paid E137 000 for grass cutting
landslide.
Top Tuff is to receive E93 000 per month for maintenance of landscape.
On a monthly basis, Antroma will be paid E2.9 million - and E175 million for the
five-year period.
Disgruntled staff at Sikhuphe International Airport said they would ask for the
intervention of His Majesty the King in the matter because certain influential
people were allegedly contravening procurement laws and also inflating costs for
services. Staff members said they were prepared to disclose names of people
believed to be abusing public funds to the Anti Corruption Commission.
Prince Hlangusemphi, the Minister of Economic Planning and Development, said he
was not aware of the matter but hinted that only two companies, Inyatsi
Construction and Steffanuti and Bressan (S&B), known as Steffanuti Stocks, were
awarded the tender to build and deliver a complete airport.
The minister said he did not have information on the subcontractors. He referred
enquiries to Bertram Stewart, the Principal Secretary (PS), who said information
could be sought from Antroma or management of SWACAA.
“I am not in the management of SWACAA. You can speak to them because I am not
aware of what you are talking about,” said Stewart.
After saying this, he declined to entertain further questions as he hung up his
mobile phone.
Sikhuphe, Matsapha airports different?
MBABANE – Teddy Mavuso, the General Manager of Airlink Swaziland, said his
company was indeed rendering ground handling services.
He said Airlink Swaziland could also provide similar services at Sikhuphe
International Airport if the airport’s operator would permit it. “We have a
staff complement responsible for ground handling services,” he said.
He said Airlink Swaziland ground handlers could be declared redundant if they
would not be permitted to provide the service at the new airport.
GROUND HANDLING
Ground handling is adopted in many forms; some airlines control it themselves,
some contract third-parties and others use an airport’s ground handling
services.
This variety creates inefficiency and airlines are often unable to effectively
and consistently communicate their policies to ground handlers.
To co-ordinate these complex operations, ground handlers often use the
airline’s individual departure control systems (DCS). This means third-parties
and airport ground handlers must engage with a number of different DCS each day.
Sometimes one handling firm will have staff using 20 different systems. This can
cause many problems, for example, training ground staff for a number of
different systems is a lengthy and expensive process. Also, the nuances of an
airline’s IT system can be missed and airlines fail to fully differentiate
themselves from one another, meaning the brands policies and promises can
effectively become lost on the ground.
(Courtesy of Airport Fleet
Management – AFM)