Mbabane (Swaziland) – Swaziland’s King Mswati III inaugurated the new $280-million airport construction project dubbed a “white elephant” by critics.
The project is still a few years from being operational.
The airport is situated 70 kilometres (44 miles) away from the capital Mbabane and will be able to handle 300 passengers per hour and its runway can accommodate jumbo jets, according to officials.
So far it has taken 11 years to build the airport, at a cost equivalent to almost 10 percent of the impoverished mountain kingdom’s 2012 Gross Domestic Product.
Swaziland is the sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. It is hoped the airport will boost the Swazi economy and attract tourism and foreign investment.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is still to grant the airport an operational licence, for now,there have been concerns about the viability of the project.
The airport was built under the name Sikhuphe International Airport but was on Friday renamed King Mswati-III International Airport.
“This airport is not a tool to make a circus but to advance the country’s development,” the monarch said at the opening ceremony.
South Africa’s SA Airlink which plies only the 45-minute route to and from Johannesburg currently services Swaziland and operates from a smaller airport in the commercial hub of Manzini.
Swaziland is still one of the world’s poorest countries, although its monarch has an estimated fortune of around $200 million.
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