The Sunday News
IN October 2002, the late Vice-President Dr Simon Vengai Muzenda officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Buffalo Range Airport in Chiredzi.
As he sunk the pick into the virgin land at the site where the expansion of the airport was to take place, he was not aware that the following year he was going to be called by the Creator.
However, one thing which was definitely on his mind was the wish to see the project coming to fruition.
More so, his dream was not just to see the completion of the expansion project but that there would be regular flights into the sugar rich town which is also surrounded by huge tourist attractions, mostly in the wildlife sector.
But 13 years after that blessing from one of Zimbabwe’s iconic nationalists, the expansion project has remained on paper while no scheduled flights are using the airport, although there are occasional charter planes mainly for tourists that are brought in by companies running ranches in the South Eastern Lowveld.
“At that time (when Dr Muzenda did a ground breaking ceremony) Government had come up with a programme to expand all major airports so that they could accommodate the Boeing 737 which had been acquired by national airline — Air Zimbabwe,” said a senior official with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe who took Sunday Business on tour of the airport.
He, however, could not be named since according to the company protocol he is not authorised to speak to the media.
CAAZ is a Government company with the mandate to maintain and run all airports in the country.
The existing runway at the airport measures 1 578 metres long and 30 metres wide and although it can accommodate the size of the Boeing 737-700 executive series, the plane run by Air Zimbabwe requires long runways of up to four kilometres.
“When Shakira — famous Colombian pop singer and wife to Barcelona Football Club defender Gerald Pique visited Gonarezhou National Park in 2010, she used a private Global Express 737 500 series which landed on this airport,” said the official.
The airport has been earmarked for expansion and refurbishment on numerous occasions but somehow the real work has remained sluggish.
After Dr Mzee’s ground breaking ceremony, new terminal buildings plans were crafted, approved and paid for.
However, designs for the runways have not yet been done.
“Funding has remained a big challenge,” said the CAAZ official.
“The only major work which was done was clearing the bush where we anticipated the runway to be constructed.”
Towards the hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, efforts were again made to revisit the expansion project but it failed due to funding.
CAAZ estimates that more than $300 000 is needed to ensure that the airport is upgraded to its full potential.
The airport, according to CAAZ, has a lot of potential as evidenced by traffic which is already being recorded in spite of it all being chartered planes.
“We handle an average of between 80 and 90 aircrafts per month and most of these are private or chartered planes. We also handle around 200 people movements per month.”
Malilangwe Conservancies in the Save Valley runs at least two flights per week bringing in tourists.
“They run two charter planes every Monday and Thursday and mostly to bring in their clients.”
With such potential already, officials believe the airport can be big considering massive conservancies run in the area.
“We hope if refurbishments are completed this airport can be bigger than Kariba. Remember there is the Great Transfrontier Park project and once it is in full force, there will be a lot of people wanting to visit the area. They find it tiresome to fly to Harare and then drive more than 500 kilometres to Gonarezhou. They would want to fly from Johannesburg straight to Buffalo Range.”
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is a 35 000 square kilometre park that links with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa and the Gonarezhou National Park in the South Eastern Lowveld in Zimbabwe.
Its aim is to ensure that tourists can enjoy the wildlife in the three countries and Buffalo Range is one of the most convenient airports for tourists to use to access the parks.
Traffic, said the official was likely also to pick up from the increasing number of local people who are working and those shopping in South Africa.
“At least five buses per day travel from Chiredzi to South Africa and some can be absorbed by air if the service was available. If there were planes flying between Buffalo Range and Johannesburg obviously some of the people could have afforded to fly into South Africa and then use the road on their way back when they have luggage. In addition a number of people from this area work in South Africa,” said the official.
It is, however, not all doom and gloom at Buffalo Range Airport as CAAZ is refurbishing the main building at the airport.
“We started the refurbishment in March this year and we expect it to end soon. We are basically repainting, redoing our ablution facilities and increasing office spaces. We are also separating the arrival and departure areas and this is just an exercise to ensure that we spruce up the airport,” said the official.
As Government and CAAZ move in to upgrade Buffalo Range Airport provided funding is available, they must remember that it was the wish of Dr Mzee to see the airport becoming an international facility.
And who knows, with most airports in Africa named after statesmen, maybe Buffalo Range might be renamed Dr Mzee International Airport once it is upgraded to suit the status of such a great man.
Think of Joshua Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo named after the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo, OR Tambo International in South Africa named after Oliver Tambo, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya and Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Zambia to mention a few.
