Cape to Kruger — and beyond

The Cape Winelands Airport (CWA) development is set to be a catalyst for Cape Town’s growth and global connectivity. It will also benefit local communities with jobs, skills, improved housing and learning and recreation spaces, says MD Deon Cloete.

“This project, if we do it right, will change lives,” he tells the FM. He is “carefully, cautiously optimistic” that final approvals will be given so that construction can start towards the end of 2026, with first flights taking off from a new runway in 2028.

“This is like déjà vu,” says Cloete, who led the team that established King Shaka International Airport in Durban 20 years ago. He also headed the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process for Cape Town International Airport’s enhancements and runway realignment for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

The development of CWA, formerly Fisantekraal airfield, just northeast of Durbanville, is led by private role-players. It currently serves as a general aviation facility.

Plans include developing a state-of-the-art, green, smart and innovative “airport city” with a 3.5km runway capable of handling the latest widebody Code 4F aircraft such as the Airbus A380. The estimated cost of phased construction and development is R24bn-R28bn over several years.

Final EIA appeal decisions on the development were expected by end-March, and local rezoning approvals are targeted for April or May. Cloete is also hopeful that an international port of entry licence will be approved soon.

In the meantime, investors are waiting in the wings. Cloete says CWA has been “out to market” for funding “for some time now”, with Investec and WaterBorne Capital as financial transaction advisers. “As soon as the approvals are through, we’re in a position to sign some agreements and then … we can start building.”

Cloete and his team emphasise that continuing engagement and collaboration with like-minded partners and communities are vital.

Airport planner Adele Klingenberg says: “Our success doesn’t just rely on what we do but on what everyone else does around us and how we integrate them. The power truly lies in collaboration.”

This project, if we do it right, will change lives

—  Deon Cloete

Cloete emphasises the need for taking communities, particularly residents of Fisantekraal, Klipheuwel and Mikpunt, “with us”.

“It’s your community you rely on; if you’ve got that relationship it protects that project and that investment best.”

CWA works closely with local government, ward councillors and partners like Garden Cities. It’s also a member of the Durbanville Farmers Association.

The project focuses on four needs when seeking partners:

• “Work” involves job creation, business growth, employment and upskilling during construction and operations.
• “Live” centres on housing in proximity to the airport, avoiding long commutes.
• “Learn” is about collaboration with colleges and universities to build skills and fast-track opportunities for young people.
• “Play” provides recreation spaces for integrated communities where people “own an airport together”.

The airport, Cloete says, is “smack bang in the middle” of the West Coast growth corridor, where the metro will likely “stretch from Cape Town … to Malmesbury”, positioning CWA centrally for regional expansion.

The site has an operational rail link potentially connecting to the ports of Cape Town and Saldanha. This forms “one integrated logistical network” combining air, rail and ocean transport, vital for Cape Town’s future and mitigating fuel supply risks.

Two major partners in the project have been announced in the past three months.

WBHO will undertake the technical development and construction. Growthpoint Properties is responsible for long-term property and asset management across the logistics, commercial and hospitality components.

Both are also investing in the project and thus “have skin in the game”, says Cloete.

Werner van Antwerpen, head of corporate advisory at Growthpoint Properties, says phase 1 will develop the terminal buildings, runway and a 450ha “developable” estate estimated to cost R8bn.

The rest of the precinct will consist of industrial, retail, office, logistics and hotel properties, estimated to cost a further R16bn-R20bn.

Several investors will fund the development. “However, Growthpoint has the right of first refusal to co-invest in the properties to be developed in the CWA precinct,” Van Antwerpen says.

The ambitions of holding company RSA AERO extend well beyond this project. It also owns Gariep Dam Airport in the Free State and aims to have a presence in all nine provinces eventually. According to Cloete, it is looking at private airports near the Garden Route, the West Coast, Pilanesberg and Kruger National Park.

“We would love to have a link from CWA where you can go to Kruger Park or Pilanesberg and then jump over into Vic Falls. I think it will be a wonderful package.”