Study to determine fate of Maun airport underway
Keto Segwai | Wednesday July 17, 2024 16:45
CAAB CEO, Dr Bao Mosinyi is convinced of this view as more airlines that want to open up routes into Botswana prefer the MIA. The MIA was certified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in February 2024 despite its runway not being strong enough to take larger aircrafts. The terminal, which services the second busiest airport in Southern Africa after OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa, is inadequate. Generally, the airport is overwhelmed by activity that comes its way. “The biggest constraint on the development of the Maun International Airport is the weak strength of the runway though its length of 3.7km is adequate.”
Talking in Maun during the launch of FlyNamibia’s scheduled flights between Windhoek and Maun on July 3, Mosinyi maintained that “the biggest investment we are going to make is here (Maun). And it will be expensive, but it would be worth the cost. The country should be envisioning what the Maun International Airport will look like in 30 years,” he noted. He disclosed that a feasibility study on the way forward with the current airport is underway. “The study will determine what to do with this airport. What is certain is that there will be a transformation – whether in this very place or somewhere else,” he explained.
The CAAB got unwavering local support when the councillor for Boyei ward in Maun, Ntlogelang Kebonyekgotla, who was thanking the guests on behalf of the area Member of Parliament, Dumelang Saleshando, implored the aviation authority to actively consider constructing a new airport outside Maun if a long-term solution is to be realised. Local authorities are known to have long earmarked a parcel of land in Xhana, located along Maun-Makalamabedi road on the A2 Highway, for the construction of the new airport. However, as part of preparations to cash in on the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by neighbouring South Africa, a decision was taken to refurbish the Maun airport. The refurbishment never made it in time for the World Cup and it went on forever. There were other alleged factors at play. The then powerful interests in the tourism sector with buildings in the airport environs and the airport's proposed relocation, got the opportunity to shelf the relocation idea.
Instead, residents of Boyei, Botshabelo, and Sedie wards were relocated mainly to the New Disaneng. Since then, incoherent pronouncements interspersed with piecemeal solutions have dogged the MIA’s development aspirations. Now the locals are hopeful, as expressed by the elected representatives and tribal authority at every opportunity, that Mosinyi is committed to finding a lasting solution to the challenges facing the MIA.