We would like to correct the wrong impression created about the state of the runway and assure the South African public of ACSA’s world class infrastructure maintenance standards.
The report in question is the outcome of regular studies commissioned by ACSA on our infrastructure for planning, scoping and budgeting of major maintenance cycles. Although we have in-house pavement expertise it is our standard practise to employ external expertise for good measure in line with international best practice. The outcomes of the assessment in question helped to inform the planning, scoping and budgeting of the next major maintenance of the runway scheduled to begin in October this year.
General Manager of the airport, Mr George Uriesi, says, “I would like to stress that the report in question had no bearing on the asphalt lifting incident in November last year. It is important to note that while the report was a structural assessment of the runway, the incident was a surface defect, which though a rare occurrence can happen suddenly on an asphalt surface”.
Uriesi goes on to say, “Apart from the fact that a runway is the life line of our business, the safety of our infrastructure and operations is paramount to ACSA. This is why we regularly employ both the best expertise in South Africa and the best expertise in the world to jointly advise us”.
Uriesi concluded, “Our airport users and the South African public can rest assured that ACSA will never operate infrastructure that does not meet the most stringent safety and regulatory standards. This is why we made the call to close the runway when the asphalt lifted on 27 November 2005”.
