Aerotropolis Update
Aerotropolis Update No. 2, November 2015 No. 2, November 2015
By Rose Bridger
By Rose Bridger
CONTENTS Page 1, INTRODUCTION What is an aerotropolis?, Aerotropolis Update
Pages 2 – 9, AFRICA Botswana - Sir Seretse Khama Airport, Ghana - Accra aerotropolis plans, Ho airport city, Malawi - Kamuzu Airport, Mozambique - Nacala Airport, Nigeria - Ekiti Airport, Bayelsa Airport, Rwanda - Bugesera airport, Senegal - New Dakar airport, South Africa - OR Tambo Airport, KwaZuluNatal aerotropolis, Tanzania - Pangani ‘airport city’, Zimbabwe - Victoria Falls Airport
Pages 9 – 15, ASIA PACIFIC Australia - 2nd Sydney airport, Bankstown Airport, Orange Airport, Gold Coast Airport, China New Beijing Airport, Hong Kong Airport, India - Pune, Shivdaspura, Sriperumbudur, Indonesia Senai Airport City, Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur Airport, New Zealand – Christchurch Airport, Philippines - Boracay Airport, Thailand, Vietnam - Long Thanh Airport
Pages 15 – 16, EUROPE Belgium - Liege Airport, Germany - Allgäu Airport, Italy - Europe 1, Lithuania - Kaunas Airport, Turkey - Istanbul’s third airport
Pages 16 - 17, LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Barbados - Grantley Adams Airport, Brazil - Ponta Grossa Airport, Curaçao - Curaçao Airport
Pages 17 - 18, MIDDLE EAST Oman - New Salalah Airport, Qatar - Hamad Airport, United Arab Emirates - Al Maktoum Airport
Pages 18 – 21, NORTH AMERICA Canada - Hamilton Airport, Victoria Airport, US - Atlanta Airport, Detroit Metro Airport, Monroe Regional Airport, Robert La Fleur Airport
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INTRODUCTION What is an aerotropolis? An aerotropolis, or airport city, is an airport surrounded by commercial and industrial development. It is not, primarily, a settlement for people to live in. Some aerotropolis projects include substantial residential areas, but the emphasis is on facilities for international trade and tourism. Air passengers are funnelled through hotels, shops, entertainment and cultural venues and offices. Manufacturing and assembly plants are integrated with an airport’s cargo facilities. To a varying extent, development on the land surrounding the airport is designed to be aviation dependent, prioritising facilities that will utilise air services and support airport growth. Many aerotropolis projects aim to become of ‘destinations in their own right’: substantial, full spectrum urbanisation that maximises capture of revenue from the flow of passengers. Frequently, the airport owns the land upon which aerotropolis development takes place, and ‘non-aeronautical revenue’ from facilities on this land, either owned by the airport or operated via concessions and leases, cross-subsidises airport operations and expansion. This economic model ensures that the majority of economic benefit accrues to the airport, along with its tenants and ancillary industries, rather than host communities outside the boundary. The aerotropolis is a global phenomenon. Airport-centric development began around a few airports, notably Schiphol, Frankfurt in Europe and Dallas/Fort Worth in the US, in the 1990s. Subsequent prominent aerotropolis developments included Incheon and Kuala Lumpur. Over recent years aerotropolis style development has become a mainstream planning trend worldwide. Currently, important announcements, in particular regarding land allocation and financing, relating to planned and existing projects, are being made on practically a daily basis. The scale of aerotropolis projects varies widely. Small developments, typically adjoining a minor airport, may cover a few hectares. The largest aerotropolis developments, in Africa and Asia, have been allocated over 100 square kilometres. Most developments combine passenger and freight facilities, but a number of projects in Africa are freight oriented. Major aerotropolis schemes are among the biggest megaprojects being imposed by government and corporations, benefitting from correspondingly high levels of public expenditure and private investment. Aerotropolis Update This Update looks at aerotropolis developments around the world, with a focus on Africa and the Asia Pacific region, highlighting key social, economic and environmental concerns of: • Allocation of greenfield (undeveloped) sites, leading to loss of vast areas of farmland, forests and other ecosystems • Displacement of communities, loss of land and livelihoods, land acquisition injustice and resistance from affected people • A new generation of free trade zones (also referred to by other names such as special economic/industrial development zones), heavily subsidised with tax breaks and other incentives • Integration with other destructive megaprojects such as deep water ports, logistics corridors (also known as economic/growth corridors), fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure and tourism megacomplexes Page 1
AFRICA Botswana President commits public funds for ‘airport city’ In October, as the President of Botswana, Ian Khama, opened the newly expanded Sir Seretse Khama Airport he announced that the government had decided to invest in an ‘airport city’ with retail outlets and hotels. Commitment of public funds for an aerotropolis around the airport comes in the wake of significant cost escalation incurred by expanding it. Originally scheduled for completion in time for the FIFA World Cup in 2010, the work programme was plagued by delays. Failure to evaluate the performance of contractors and ensure delivery of the works according to specifications led to costs exceeding $62.7 million, fifty per cent higher than the original budget. President Khama spoke of plans for the aerotropolis: a “commercial centre…a centre of urban activity which can translate into large numbers of people, public and private transport, commercial activity and offices far removed from the Gaborone metropolitan centre”. Sir Seretse Khama Airport is situated 20 kilometres north of the capital city, Gaborone, and surrounded by vast tracts of undeveloped land.
Ghana Accra aerotropolis plans In Accra, Ghana’s capital city, 17.4 hectares of aerotropolis development around Kotoka Airport is described as a ‘safe, upscale corridor to conduct business, eat, shop and sleep within 15 minutes from the airport’. This development is dwarfed by aerotropolis plans for the area. In 2013 the government of Ghana acquired 6,375 hectares of land for an airport in the NingoPrampram district of the Greater Accra region. Feasibility studies are underway but there has not yet been an announcement about the budget. Ho airport city to cater for the elite On 18th September Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, cut the sod for a new airport in the Volta region, on the country’s southeastern border, near Ho, the regional capital. The $26 million project certainly intends to cater for the elite, with VIP and VVIP lounges. President Mahama commended the chiefs of the Asogli area for providing 607 hectares of land for the project. Press reports that the project was welcomed by joyful crowds may not tell the full story of the reaction by the people affected; the head chief of the Asogli area said that building an airport in Ho was not part of the ruling party’s manifesto, and welcomed it as a surprise gift for the region, indicating a lack of consultation of affected communities and due democratic process. The slogan for the project is ‘Ho Airport – The New Destination’ and an ‘airport city’ is planned. Keeping out local people is evidently a high priority: construction of the perimeter fence, ‘to secure the land and deter encroachment, to protect the project and future expansion’, was reported to be nearly complete. Expanding on plans for Ho Airport, Mahama said “To further enhance the financial viability of the airport, the layout has provision for business Page 2
activities/facilities including hotels, conferencing facilities, shops, restaurants, office complexes, health facilities, etc.” indicating that the commercial development on land surrounding the airport will be a source of non-aeronautical revenue for the airport, cross-subsidising aeronautical operations and expansion. President Mahama also said that similar airport city projects are planned for all Ghana’s regions. State land acquisition a factor in loss of farmland Land acquisition for an airport is highlighted in a study conducted by the Department of Land Economy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) which revealed that farmland is becoming scarcer in Ghana. This is having serious impacts on rural people’s livelihoods and food security. Acquisition of land by the state is identified as a major factor in loss of agricultural land, and the largest project land area mentioned, 32 square kilometres, is for an airport expansion project in the north of the country. Displaced rural people have not been paid compensation compulsory acquisition of land by the state, in spite of a constitutional mandate for fair, adequate and prompt compensation in such cases.
Malawi Aerotropolis and Export Processing Zone near Kamuzu Airport An airport city is to be established near Kamuzu Airport, which is situated to the north of the capital city, Lilongwe, and surrounded by undeveloped land. Facilities will include a hotel, cargo facilities, housing, recreation facilities and shopping malls. ‘Non-aeronautical revenue’ from the development will support airport operations, capturing income streams for the benefit of the airport. In addition, investors are being sought for an Export Processing Zone at Kamuzu Airport, with facilities including warehouses, cold rooms for export of agricultural produce – vegetables, fruits and flowers, and a Duty Free warehouse selling white goods and electronics.
Mozambique Nacala Airport to serve oil & gas projects, and tourism Nacala Airport opened in December 2014, amidst fast-paced development of surface transportation links for coal and gas extraction and export. A 900 kilometre railway between the north-western province of Tete, with coal deposits, and Nacala’s deep water port - one of the largest in Africa and soon to be redeveloped for coal and iron ore exports - neared completion. A decree permitting two gas projects off the coast was imminent. Nacala Airport will be a two-faced complex: facilitating ruination of nature by fossil fuel extraction whilst enabling quick and convenient access to remaining undeveloped natural areas for the benefit of the tourism industry. A travel industry website report on Nacala Airport states that a ‘nearby airport city is in planning…opening up of the greater northern region of Mozambique for tourism purposes. Endless beaches await investors willing to come on board and create resorts.’ Nacala aerotropolis is already supported by tax breaks. President Armando Guebuza said that commencement of operations at Nacala Airport made it possible to launch a duty free zone in the region. Research firm The Business Year reports that Nacala SEZ (special economic zone) Page 3
hosts two IFZs (industrial free zones) spanning 500 hectares and tax breaks offered to investors include reductions in income tax, VAT, and excise duty.
Nigeria Land cleared for Ekiti airport, farmer dies In September, the state government of Ekiti, in western Nigeria, announced that a committee has been established to ‘ensure the take-off’ of an airport. Starting with construction of an airstrip and demarcation of 2,000 hectares of land, a total of 6,000 hectares was allocated to the development. The project faces opposition from the All Progressive Congress (APC) of Ekiti state, which says it would benefit the elite at the expense of initiatives to support the growth of the local economy to benefit impoverished residents. The estimated project cost is $85.4 million, allocated for the airport in spite of Governor Ayo Fayose’s claim that the state has no money. An APC spokesperson described the airport project as a “drain pipe to siphon money from Ekiti State treasury”, and questioned the economic sense when an established airport, Akure, is underutilised, less than an hour’s drive away, and located in a highly industrialised sate, whereas Ekiti is predominantly agrarian. But the rationale for the airport is to open up Ekiti for development and part of the plan is to fly out farm produce. The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly stated his support for a cargo airport, to open up resources to exploration and to “ensure seamless exportation of agricultural products”. On 2nd October the Ekiti State government began clearing 4,000 hectares of land for the project, aiming for this to be complete within a period of two months. Five bulldozers tore down trees and Fayose’s statements made it clear that the project was at the top of the list of priorities and being fast-tracked, saying it must be constructed in the “shortest possible period” and that all the road contractors in the state would be requested to lend the state at least one bulldozer to work on land clearing at the airport site for a month. The costs of compensation to affected farm owners had yet to be worked out. The Nation Nigeria reported that Fayose was pursuing the project with such a ‘frenzy’ that he had failed to even consult with farmers holding customary titles to the land. Former Speaker Femi Bamisile described pursuit of the project as a “misplaced priority” and a “criminal act”, saying that the state government had inaugurated it without following due process and querying the tender for the project and where it was advertised. As land clearance continued land owners from the five villages affected – Igbemo, Igbogun, Aso Ayegunle, Ijan and Araromi Obbo – demanded compensation and to be relocated elsewhere. Produce cultivated on the land allocated to the airport had been their only source of livelihood, and the area also hosts sacred trees and a shrine. An oil palm farmer whose plantation was bulldozed, Tijani Hakeem, died, reportedly of shock. On 13th October Governor Fayose suspended work on the airport until December, promising to pay affected farmers compensation and time to harvest their crops. A former Senator, Gbenga Aluko, declared Ekiti Airport a waste of public funds, describing it as “economically unviable, unsustainable, unnecessary and ill-advised”. Page 4
Airport in Bayelsa will serve oil extraction A major airport is planned near the coast of the southern state of Bayelsa, integrated with other megaprojects. In July 2014 Governor Seriake Dickson mentioned plans for an airport in a speech about how Bayelsa is being made “safe for investment”, listing a number of megaprojects including a deep sea port covering 200 square kilometres with a Free Trade Zone contained within it, numerous oil and gas projects, road and rail projects, opening up forest reserves for ‘agricultural business and lumbering’ and aquaculture. He said that Bayelsa is ‘the natural home of organic banana and vegetables in Nigeria’, and that a cargo airport was being built to ‘prepare the state for the export market’. Foreign investment is also sought for a tourism megaproject; the governor stated that “we are constructing the most ambitious Tourism Island project, a New Yenagoa City with a 20,000 hectare area”. At the beginning of September groundwork commenced at the proposed site for the Bayelsa state airport, at Yenagoa, The airport is intended to facilitate oil extraction. When asked why an airport was planned at this location Governor Dickson explained that it is close to Gulf of Guinea with a “huge concentration of oil” and said that $240 million will be spent on the airport, nearly twice as much as the amount that was announced for education.
Rwanda Bugesera airport delayed A new airport is planned in the Bugesera District, 25 kilometres southeast of the capital city, Kigali. In 2013 the Rwandan government announced that the airport, allocated 25 square kilometres of land, would be developed in four phases, with hotels, and conference and leisure facilities and a free trade zone, earmarking funds for land expropriation and construction of a road to the area. The number of households to be relocated was 6,000. In July 2014 the government reported delays in land acquisition with over 2,000 households still living within the project perimeter, some of them challenging the level of compensation offered. Land acquisition delays continued, pushing the date of commissioning back by two years, to late 2016. By May 2015 over 50 families were still awaiting compensation; they remained on the land but were stuck in limbo, without compensation they were unable to leave, but unable to farm the land. Some had been awaiting payment for two years. Development of the airport was uncertain as the source of funding had still not been determined, and this was not an isolated case as the government was being criticised for rushing to expropriate people for mega infrastructure projects that were then delayed or abandoned. In September 2015 the government began to offer land expropriated for the airport, but remaining idle, to farmers for cultivation, but only on a short-term basis.
Senegal New Dakar airport dogged by delays + cost escalation Construction of Blaise Diagne Airport, 30 kilometres southeast of Dakar, the capital city, is 90 per cent complete. The airport has been allocated a 40 square kilometre site. Originally anticipated to be operational by the end of 2011, the project has been dogged by the delays and Page 5
cost escalations faced by many megaprojects: The Saudi Bin Laden Group invested €400 million but the building costs are anticipated to reach €566 million. Fraport, a German firm which operates Frankfurt Airport, was awarded the contract to build and manage the airport for 22 years and has a controlling 51 per cent share. Already, Fraport is attempting to use its position as a majority shareholder to exert control over the project and override government decisions. In September, Fraport threatened to withdraw from its build, manage and ownership contract in response to the Senegalese government’s decision to reduce the airport passenger fee, reportedly demanding an additional €990,000 to compensate for the reduction in revenue that would ensue. The Blaise Diagne airport site adjoins Dakar Integrated Special Economic Zone which is designed to act ‘in close synergy’ with the new airport. Tax breaks include exemption from customs duties and income tax. In addition to these facilities supporting the airport’s cargo complex the zone is the starting point for aerotropolis development to support the airport’s passenger facilities; there are plans for ‘tourist complexes’. The official Dakar Integrated Special Economic Zone website states that ‘Current and project developments do not anticipate the displacement of populations and will be implemented in harmony with the needs of the populations living on the site’. This reassurance rings hollow in the light of treatment of people living on land surrounding and owned by the existing Dakar Airport (Leopold Sedar Senghor Airport), situated to the north of the city, which Blaise Diagne airport will replace. There is a dispute over ownership of the vast airport site, which takes up one fifth of the city of Dakar, home to 14 million people. Authorities have not declared their intentions for future use of the site and tribes which ceded ancestral land for the purpose of the airport now want it returned to them and to build houses, schools and hospitals upon it. In May, a protest led to clashes with military police and three arrests. Then, in September, bulldozers arrived without warning in the Tobago neighbourhood and demolished several family homes. Officials claimed the homes posed a security risk but the head of the residents’ association did not believe this, pointing out that the houses had been built five years ago.
South Africa OR Tambo Airport Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) offers tax breaks In September, a sod turning ceremony was held for an Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport. The Gauteng Province’s Growth and Development Agency has committed $19 million government funds to the project, covering 725 hectares around the airport, with export-oriented, industry specific precincts to be developed over a 10-15 year period. The first development is to be a jewellery manufacturing facility. A range of incentives has been dangled at potential investors. Tax breaks, as outlined on the TaxNews.com website, are certainly comprehensive: import duty relief on goods for storage, raw materials machinery used in manufacturing process, zero value-added tax (VAT) rating for goods supplied from South Africa and VAT exemption for goods imported from abroad.
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The IDZ is part of a wider aerotropolis project emerging around OR Tambo Airport, in the Ekurhuleni municipality. In February 2015 the Premier of the Guateng Province, David Makhura, announced that 29 aerotropolis related industrial projects would be undertaken this year including the Tambo Springs Inland Port Development, explaining that these projects form part of the ‘reconfiguration’ of the Gauteng City Region based on five ‘development corridors’. By June a 27 year aerotropolis master plan was being approved and adopted. Initial developments, namely Denel Mega City Aviation, Aerospace Manufacturing Precinct and an air cargo logistics hub, are scheduled to begin within two years. In November it was reported that an ‘ambitious vision’ to transform Ekurhuleni into an aerotropolis was underway. The municipality costed the aerotropolis at over $21 billion, stating that the City would pay engineering costs but that the ‘bulk of the money’ would be leveraged from unspecified ‘strategic partners’. KZN Aerotropolis boasts 32,000 acres for development King Shaka Airport, located 35 kilometres to the north of the city of Durban and surrounded by undeveloped land, opened in 2010 for the FIFA World Cup, replacing the decommissioned old airport. The airport forms part of Dube Tradeport, which also comprises an air cargo and logistics facility, warehousing, offices, retail, hotels and agriculture. Dube Tradeport was designated as an IDZ in July 2014 and launched the following October. Firms locating in a 28.4 square kilometre area will benefit from subsidies including fiscal and customs incentives. King Shaka Airport and Dube Tradeport form the ‘nucleus for the development of a new aviation industry inspired conurbation’, a 60-year plan for KwaZulu-Natal Aerotropolis. On the official website, AEROTROPOLIS:KZN, the project is described as ‘one of few such developments around the world utilising a Greenfield site, with an additional 32 000 acres [129.5 square kilometres], ready for carefully planned and controlled development’. A map prepared for GAAM, based on the boundaries shown on the website, shows a truly gargantuan aerotropolis plan spanning 231 square kilometres. Reflecting the freight-oriented ambitions the plan shows aerotropolis land predominantly allocated for business space – industrial, logistics and offices – plus residential areas and resorts, each zone surrounded by a thin line of green space. Situated on South Africa’s eastern coast, KZN Aerotropolis is between Richards Bay Port to the north and Durban Port to the south. Project promoters envisage growth of maritime facilities working in synergy with growth of air cargo volumes. Planned expansion of Durban Port, and a new dig out port at the site of the city’s old airport to the south of the city raises concerns over the threatened loss of land, livelihoods, health and way of life faced by farmers who have cultivated land near the old airport for 25 years. Subsistence fisherfolk face loss of access to the coast and have reported being harassed by officials. Development of the dig out port would also entail the destruction of South Durban’s most important area of green space for a logistics terminal. On 29th March 2015 800 people took to the streets in protest against Durban Port expansion and the planned dig out port. They marched to the city hall to hand over a memorandum to the Mayor and Transnet, the operator of Durban Port. Page 7
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Tanzania Economic corridor project includes ‘airport city’ An airport city is planned in the town of Pangani, at the mouth of the Pangani River, to provide ‘a logistics and manufacturing platform for regional and international firms’, complementing a new deep water port handling 400 metre long ships. Both projects are part of the Mwambani Economic Corridor which aims to stimulate development including agriculture, mining, oil and gas exploration and tourism.
Zimbabwe Disneyland in Zimbabwe The Zimbabwe government has allocated 300 hectares for a ‘free tourism economic zone’ near Victoria Falls Airport. Comprising hotels, shopping malls, conference centre, exhibition and entertainment facilities such as casinos and business premises the development is called ‘Disneyland in Africa’. The government is seeking investors for the project and courting potential Chinese funders.
ASIA-PACIFIC Australia Earthworks + roads for 2nd Sydney airport Opposition to a planned second Sydney airport, at Badgerys Creek continues. Homes have been torn down and residents evicted. Preparation of the site for construction would involve 20 million cubic metres of cut and fill earthworks. The government has approved a $3.6 billion road construction programme to support construction and operation of the airport. The airport site is just 8 kilometres from the eastern edge of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, opposed by the Blue Mountains Conservation Society at least 265 native Australian bird species, threaten its UNESCO world heritage status. Business park at Bankstown Airport 'could herald a wave of redevelopment' Bankstown Airport, a general airport used by private jets and helicopter flying schools 22 kilometres from Sydney’s central business district, plans to use 41 hectares of land for a ‘business park and family leisure destination’ with bulky goods retail, a factory outlet and restaurants plus a business park and a 3,000 space car park. This 'could herald a wave of redevelopment' on 130 hectares of airport-owned land, and the government is considering provision of transport links to the airport. The south-west corner of the airport land has already been prepared for development. Infill of land destroyed a natural flood plain and further development may also affect flood risk management. Opposition to industrial park on farmland around Orange Airport In New South Wales, Orange City Council proposes to rezone pristine agricultural land for an industrial park around Orange Airport, near the village of Spring Hill. The scheme goes against Page 9
the Local Environment Plan and conditions pertaining to the recent upgrading of the airport. There are also concerns over the placement of ‘heavy, toxic industry’ on top of the water catchment. Hundreds of residents say the plan is 'ridiculous' and 300 people have signed a petition opposing it. A Facebook Page, Spring Hill Airport Development, has more details about the industrial park proposal and the campaign against it. Wetlands at risk for more shops at Gold Coast Airport Plans to bulldoze 32 hectares of protected wetlands for Gold Coast Airport runway expansion have met with community opposition. Critics argue that the expansion is all about making space for more airport shops. The heavily vegetated wetlands host many endangered native species and there are also concerns that draining of the area in preparation for construction works would result in the water table dropping by 2.3 metres.
China New Beijing airport to be ‘world's largest tourist and shopping project’ The new Beijing Airport, expected to open in 2019, will have the world’s biggest passenger terminal, covering 700,000 square metres with the capacity to process 45 million passengers annually. It will also be an aerotropolis, with ambitions to become ‘the world's largest tourist and shopping project’ and ‘a worldwide destination for both domestic and international travelers’. The developer, Triple Five Worldwide Co Ltd, has signed an agreement with Beijing New Aerotropolis Holding Ltd and has a track record of colossal retail projects, including the Mall of America, the largest in the US. In addition to the generic aerotropolis components – shops, hotels, restaurants, offices – the mega mall will host a multitude of tourist attractions including submarine rides, indoor ski slopes, ice hockey rink, water park, comedy club, mini-golf and an aquarium. Hong Kong Airport to build the city’s largest shopping mall Hong Kong Airport has launched the tender for a massive commercial complex to the north of the airport. Plans for the 14 hectare site include the biggest shopping mall in the city. The vast temple to hyperconsumerism is an example of the aerotropolis strategy of development of airports as destinations in their own right. A Hong Kong Airport Authority representative said it will be a place where “where tourists and families can spend a whole day”. Michael Mo, convenor of campaign group People's Aviation Watch, expressed scepticism over the prospects for viability of the mall as the premium brands that would be sold are already available in Macau shopping centres, which will soon be quicker to access as a bridge to linking the peninsula to the mainland is nearing completion.
India Airport in Pune ‘needs’ 1,200 hectares In the state of Maharashtra, in the west of India, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Air Force (IAF) have renewed efforts to push plans for a proposed Pune airport. Previous sites were cleared by the AAI and IAF but there were problems with acquisition of irrigated land. A technical report for three proposed Page 10
alternative sites is being prepared. Apparently Foxconn, a contract manufacturing company, and a ‘battery of other foreign firms’ intend to invest in Pune and the airport ‘needs’ at least 1,200 hectares of land. Mass eviction looms for Shivdaspura aerotropolis In June it was reported that, an international airport and an aerotropolis, Shivdaspura Aero City, is to be constructed, with hotels, shops, cinemas, restaurants and cargo facilities. Shivdaspura is a village 20 kilometres south of Jaipur, capital of the northwestern state of Rajasthan. Mass eviction looms. At the end of September, the Times Of India reported that the ‘sword of eviction hangs on 20 villages’ in the Shivdaspura area after the state government instructed the Jaipur Development Agency (JDA) to acquire 21 square kilometres land for a greenfield airport (on undeveloped land). Plans for an airport in the area had been shelved as there are two airports, Ajmer and Sananger, within 150 kilometres, but high level intervention, i.e. an order from a member of the chief minister’s advisory board, led to the proposal being resubmitted. Plan for airport at Sriperumbudur resurrected In 2010, plans for an airport in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, the capital city of the state of Tamil Nadu in the Bay of Bengal, met with a major protest, attended by 3,000 people from 26 villages that would be affected. The airport plan required 1,821 hectares of land, predominantly farmland and lakes. Demonstrators were baton charged by police and several people were injured and hospitalised. Plans for an airport at Sriperumbudur have been resurrected, a greenfield project on 19 square kilometres of land. Sriperumbudur is in the path of the ChennaiBangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC), a mega infrastructure project to boost the flow of goods between south India and east Asia. An official from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said the airport is one of over 20 components of the CBIC masterplan.
Indonesia ‘Free zone’ with tax breaks at Senai Airport City Forty per cent of a 1.099.94 hectare ‘integrated industrial development’ at Senai Airport City is complete, providing infrastructure for various industries. The area is gazetted as a ‘free zone’ where investors are gifted incentives including tax breaks. The latest addition to Senai Airport City ‘free zone’ is Fuji Oil Asia Pte Ltd (FOAPL), a global supplier of ‘intermediate food ingredients’. The firm has signed a 60-year land lease for 10.02 hectares of industrial land and the plant will be its largest facility outside Japan.
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Airport to maximise revenue from 100 sq km of land The aerotropolis around Kuala Lumpur Airport can be regarded as archetypal. The airport opened in 1998, bestowed with 100 square kilometres of land for non-aeronautical revenue generation. The land largely consisted of palm plantations but with some commercial development, most notably the Sepang Formula One car racing track, already in place, and plans for lucrative tourism and trade related uses for much of the site. Mitsui Outlet Park, opened in May 2015 with 130 stores, is on airport land. The plan is to expand the retail complex to 44,000 square metres hosting 250 stores, making it the largest outlet mall in Southeast Asia. Page 11
Kuala Lumpur Airport aerotropolis is part of the substantial land bank owned by Malaysian Airport Berhad (MAB), the owner and operator of Malaysia’s airports, which has other airport land income streams including from palm and coconut plantations around Subang and Kota Bhaur airports. In July the Borneo Post reported that MAB wants to ‘maximise yields from its land bank’ by cultivating palm plantations on 1,000 hectares of land around Bintulu, Miri and Limbang airports, all on the island of Sarawak. Eviction notices were issued to two oil palm smallholders and a vegetable farmer cultivating MAB owned land around Miri Airport.
New Zealand Christchurch Airport plans future land leases The range of facilities on land owned by Christchurch Airport is certainly comprehensive: an industrial subdivision hosts warehouses, there is a theatre and meeting space, and a retail park called Spitfire Square is rapidly filling up with shops, bars, cafes, pharmacy, sushi outlet, juice store and fast-food outlets. Land to the north of the campus, with ‘special purpose airport zoning’, is leased for car-hire and to tourism related businesses including campervans. Already the airport generates about 57 per cent of its revenues from non-aeronautical activity on its land, and this is set to increase. Plans for future land leases include boardroom space, a gym, more campervans and a ‘pod hotel’. Tourists and business travellers will spend an ever higher proportion of their time and money on airport-owned land, and less of the economic benefit will filter to surrounding communities.
Philippines Residents resist displacement for Boracay Airport expansion Boracay Airport (also known as Caticlan Airport), brings in tourists to the island’s beach resorts. Runway extension, to accommodate larger aircraft such as the Airbus A320, is scheduled for completion in 2016. The San Miguel Corporation has been granted a 25-year build-rehabilitateoperate-transfer concession deal and owns 20 hectares of land adjacent to the airport, upon which it is rumoured it wants to develop tourism facilities, constructing a hotel, convention centre and medical facilities. San Miguel also plans to construct a bridge linking Boracay Island with the neighbouring Malay Island. On 16th September residents facing land expropriation for expansion of the airport protested against plans to purchase their land, at a fraction of its market value. Slogans on placards held by demonstrators who gathered outside the airport terminal included: ‘No To Expansion Caticlan/Boracay Airport’, ‘Stop Harrassment’, ‘Airport Expansion is Killing us’, ‘Expropriation is Oppression’, ‘No to Expropriation, Yes to Fair Negotiation’, ‘CAAP / San Miguel Have Mercy ON US’ and ‘Government for the People, Not Government for San Miguel Corp’.
Thailand Airport operator seeks to exploit vast land banks Airports of Thailand (AoT), operator of six of the country’s airports - Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok), Don Mueang, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and Phuket - is seeking endorsement from the government to exploit ‘vast land banks around airports’ for commercial development. An Page 12
area totalling over 1,200 acres is owned by the Treasury Department but managed by AoT, which envisages ‘airport cities’ with retail zones, hotels and conference centres.
Vietnam 15,000 people to be relocated for Long Thanh aerotropolis A greenfield airport is planned in the rural district of Long Thanh, in the Dong Nai Province, 40 kilometres northeast of the country’s main airport Ho Chi Minh. In September it was reported that Vietnam’s Prime Minister had granted approval for the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to invest in the airport. The government has allocated 50 square kilometres for the project, to be built in three phases to bring the total capacity to 100 million passengers per year, and 5 million tonnes of cargo. About 30 square kilometres of the area is occupied by households, with the majority of people make their living from farming and industry. The government plans to relocate as many as 4,730 households, totalling 15,000 people. Much of the remainder of the land is taken up with business premises, religious buildings and government offices. Land clearance is scheduled to take place in two phases. The first phase will reclaim 2,557 hectares of land, affecting over 1,800 households. Two designated resettlement areas north of the airport area span just 564 hectares. In May 2015, the Ho Chi Minh Association of Consultants in Science (HASCON) slammed the airport proposal, questioning the legality of the project under the constitution and expressing doubts over its socio-economic efficiency and prospects of realising its ambitions of becoming a hub for southeast Asia due to competition from established major airports in the region, i.e. Hong Kong, Changi, Kuala Lumpur and Suvarnabhumi. HASCON’s criticisms of the proposed financing of the airport included the ‘careless’ investment proposal, lack of clarity regarding terms of the loan required to build it and a ‘grossly inflated rate of return on the project’, resulting from overestimation of the projected annual profits to the tune of $1.8 billion whilst underestimating the costs by $260 million. The most recent cost estimate for the Long Thanh project is $14.95 billion, and it is being pursued in spite of uncertainty over where this funding will come from; the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE) has merely announced that ‘funding is expected to come from the State budget, official development assistance, corporate investment and public-private partnerships, among other resources’. Proposals to award a nobid contract for the feasibility study and design consulting were criticised by the Vietnam Association of Architects, which argued that there should be a competitive tender for such an important project. Long Thanh Airport is set to impact on an enormous area surrounding it. Dong Nai provincial authorities have unveiled a ‘zoning plan’ linking with others for the district, prioritising the requirements of aircraft take-off and landing flightpaths. Areas bordering the airport are earmarked for future airport expansion plans, divided into zones for agricultural, service and urban development compatible with airport operations and expansion. The plan is for Long Thanh Airport to act as a catalyst for urban development over a wider area: a new city and a ‘global logistics and industry hub’. Page 13
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Long Thanh Aerotropolis plans have been in place for several years. In 2007, the Dong Nai provincial government commissioned an Aerotropolis spatial plan for 210 square kilometres of land surrounding the airport. This enormous land allocation was reiterated in July 2015 by Long Thanh District vice chair Ngo The An, who said that 210 square kilometres near the airport will be urbanised. Real estate market uncertainty regarding the area around the newly approved airport is causing stress for residents and potential buyers. A map prepared for GAAM, based on the project boundaries of the 2007 spatial plan, shows a slightly larger area – 221 square kilometres – allocated for aerotropolis development, around the 50 square kilometres for the airport.
EUROPE Belgium Economic zone near Liege Airport A 40 hectare economic zone near Liege Airport is now available to companies. Building work cost €13 million and was partly financed by the government’s Marshall 2.vert and 4.0 plans. Liege Airport’s website states that ‘a veritable economic centre is emerging, and continually expanding’ in the area surrounding the airport, with short-term plans for 300 hectares to be made available for logistics related businesses.
Germany Opposition to commercial development at Allgäu Airport In Bavaria, both the city of Memmingen and Unterallgäu district intend to invest more than €4.5 million for commercial development on Allgäu Airport (also known as Memmingen Airport) premises that is not utilised for aeronautical operations. A citizens’ initiative opposes these plans as a covert way of increasing subsidy for the airport. By early October the initiative had gathered 8,500 signatures.
Italy Investors plan 55 sq km aerotropolis in northern Italy A group of investors, led by Sīxiăng Holding of China, has announced plans to build a €15 billion new airport in northern Italy, provisionally called ‘Europe 1’. Initally opening with four runways it hopes to expand to six, with a potential capacity for 100 million passengers per annum. Along with standard and domestic terminals the wealthiest flyers would be catered for with first-class and private jet terminals and a spaceport for suborbital flights. The airport would be part of an aerotropolis development, initially taking up 38 square kilometres of land, then expanding onto an additional 17 square kilometres. The airport would capture much of the revenue from visitors’ expenditure as they would spend a great deal of their time in the aerotropolis; designed as a ‘destination in its own right’ with various ‘attractions’ including ‘conference centre, casino, hotels, museum, theatre, cinema, Page 15
fitness and sports facilities, office complex, wellness centre and exclusive retail gallerias’. This comprehensive range of facilities would provide ‘a vacation within a vacation’ resembling a cruise ship. The location of the mega-airport would be along the high-speed rail link between Brescia and Verona. Currently under construction this railway is opposed by the group Cordinamento No Tav Brescia - Verona as an unnecessary megaproject endangering the environment and people’s health.
Lithuania ‘AEROHUB’ at Kaunas Airport gets tax breaks Kaunas Airport describes the AEROHUB development as its ‘key project’. It aims to host a cluster of aviation related businesses such as MRO (aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul) service providers, spare part manufacturers and traders, aircraft manufacturers and training service providers. The second phase of the development includes a transport link to the 534 hectare Kaunas Free Economic Zone. Subsidies for firms locating in this zone include zero tax rate on profits and dividends for foreign investors.
Turkey State banks finance Istanbul’s third airport Construction of Istanbul’s third airport, an aerotropolis on a 76 square kilometre site, is destroying forests, lakes and farmland. Contractors failed to secure overseas financing; 75 per cent of €4.5 billion for the first phase is to be provided by state owned banks, which, along with €11 billion in treasury guarantees, risks placing a heavy financial burden on future generations.
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN Barbados Grantley Adams Airport fence secures ‘vast area of land’ A chain link fence has been erected around Grantley Adams Airport, which is reported to be ‘locking down the perimeter’ and securing a 'vast area of land'. The fate of the settlers on this land (of course, as always the people are called 'squatters) is uncertain but apparently enforcement notices issued to in 2007 are still in effect. Some of the settlers said they had heard nothing since this threat of eviction, and still had no water or electricity supply, and no waste collection service.
Brazil Freight airport on a 50 sq km site Airport Development News, published by Momberger Airport Information, reports that an engineering company, Companhia Aeroportuária Campos Gerais (CACG), plans to construct Latin America's largest industrial (freight) airport, a private airport on a 50 square kilometre site, 75 kilometres to the west of the city of Curitiba. Called Ponta Grossa Airport, it would have four Page 16
3.5 kilometre runways and the budget is $1.4 billion. Regulatory infrastructure for a massive special economic zone, lavished with tax breaks, could be taking shape. CACG has proposed exemption from taxation on imported goods for firms located on airport land, and stated that the ‘hub would also qualify as an airport city with commercial activities and services'. According to Site Selection, a magazine that advises governments, investors and corporations, the Brazilian government passed legislation providing a legal framework for granting economic and fiscal incentives to businesses locating at airport cities, referred to as ‘AeroportosIndustriais’, in 2002. Site Selection is of the opinion that this law ‘paved the way for today's highly successful Confins Airport City’, in Belo Horizonte. Momberger also reports that a new airport in Porto Alegre, capital city of Brazil’s southernmost state, is planned. The site is 21 square kilometres, five times larger than the existing airport. Construction has been approved by the civil aviation authority (SAC). Brazil’s aerotropolis plans are to be complemented by major government expenditure to boost domestic aviation: a $2 billion scheme to build or remodel 80 airports (nine of which, in the remote Amazon region are to be built from scratch). The domestic air freight sector is to be galvanised with a $3 billion plan to build ‘remote airports’, extending aviation’s reach to ‘the nation’s farthest corner’ and ending dependence on surface transportation, namely shipment of goods along the Amazon River and ‘potholed roads’. Subsidies are to be given to airlines serving the Amazon region.
Curaçao ‘100% green’ Airport City around Curaçao Airport Curaçao Airport Holdings owns 450 hectares of land surrounding the Dutch Caribbean island’s airport. A claim that development – hotel, business park, offices, sport facilities, university – will be ‘100% green, sustainable’ is spurious as facilities will be highly dependent on air services.
MIDDLE EAST Oman New Salalah Airport and country-wide airport cities programme In 2014, Saeed Khamis al Zadjali, acting CEO of Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC), said that the firm has “exclusive rights to raise non-aeronautical revenues” from the new Salalah Airport and surrounding land. He explained that a country-wide airport city programme was in the works: “in the long term we want to develop airport towns, or aerotropolis as it is called, around our key airports”. Salalah Airport opened in June 2015 and clearer countrywide plans have now been announced. OAMC intends to ‘earmark a large area of land to develop aviation facilities, including a maintenance hub and free-trade zones’. The area of land is indeed large. OAMC proposes to allocate an astonishing 4,500 square kilometres near five airports ‘for long term development of the aviation sector’. An aviation official said that the aerotropolis plans are part of the country’s strategy to reduce dependence Page 17
on oil. Non-aeronautical revenue from aerotropolis developments might indeed diversify Oman’s economy and thus reduce the country’s reliance on income from oil exports, but airport centric developments threaten to lock in fossil fuel intensive infrastructure decades into the future; dependence on oil will be perpetuated.
Qatar Hamad aerotropolis - 1/3 of the size of the city of Doha Doha’s new Hamad International Airport, which opened in May, aims to emulate Dubai and become a ‘major worldwide hub’. At 600,000 square metres the terminal is the largest building in Doha. The airport-owned seafront complex, with a 200 room luxury hotel and 25,000 square metres of retail space, spans 28.5 square kilometres, one-third of the size of the city of Doha. The airport city is set to grow further. There are plans to surround it with a 10 square kilometre ‘airport city free trade zone’.
United Arab Emirates Dubai’s new airport plans 145 sq km aerotropolis Dubai’s new airport, Al Maktoum, has ambitions to become the biggest in the world. If the full plan is completed it will have the capacity to accommodate 160 million passengers per year and handle 12 million tonnes of cargo. Rumours have surfaced that construction of an integrated urban centre and golf destination, hotels, a high-end shopping mall, leisure attractions and a business hub’, covering 1,360 hectares, is scheduled to begin in 2017. Whatever the status of this project, it is certain that a much larger aerotropolis project called Dubai World Central (DWC). Already hosting several international logistics companies the plan is for fast-paced of DWC, making it the largest airport city in the world, covering a total area of 145 square kilometres and comprising eight districts: the airport, residential, logistics, aviation, commercial, humanitarian, exhibition and golf. DWC has recently been renamed ‘Dubai South’. Traffic targets have been hiked upwards, to 220 million passengers and 16 million tonnes of cargo per year. Grandiosity extended to the rebranding advertising campaign. According to Dubai South director of corporate marketing, Sanjay Patney it was among the biggest ever undertaken in the Middle East. Unveiling of the tagline, ‘City of You’, a clunkily unsubtle example of marketing flattery, was accompanied by vapid slogans espousing what Dubai South claims are its core values: ‘humanity, dignity, optimism and community’.
NORTH AMERICA Canada Appeal against aerotropolis on Hamilton farmland A ruling that aerotropolis development on 555 hectares of farmland around Hamilton Airport should go ahead is being challenged by two citizens’ organisations: Hamiltonians for Progressive Page 18
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Development (HPD) and Environment Hamilton. The main grounds for the appeal against industrial development is the availability of brownfield land – underdeveloped or former industrial properties – in the vicinity. There are hundreds of vacant and underutilised industrial buildings near the proposed aerotropolis site. Development of the aerotropolis would also incur significant public costs: $500 million to service the greenfield properties for developers. Victoria Airport plans shopping centre on farmland The majority of residents of Victoria, Vancouver Island, are not aware that the city’s airport is, according to a real estate website, a ‘major player in the region’s real estate industry’. A full 66 per cent of the airports’ revenues are from non-aviation business activity on airport-owned land. Victoria Airport’s total land area is 1,098 acres. The airport in in the process of leasing surplus land in order to generate additional revenue streams, including a 30 acres business park and chemical manufacturing facility. A request to transfer 10 acres of farmland out of the Agricultural Land Reserve, for a shopping centre, is being considered by the federal government, but this is merely a formality as the airport has the power to develop land as it wishes.
US Atlanta Airport seeks new sources of non-aeronautical revenue Atlanta Airport is stepping up efforts to find new sources of non-aeronautical revenue from its considerable land bank: 500 acres around the airport, plus 10,000 acres in Dawson County and 9,400 acres in Paulding County. A former executive of Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports has been given responsibility for ‘non-traditional real estate development’ and is considering ‘how to take dormant assets and turn them into revenue-producing assets’. The Atlanta Aerotropolis Alliance is made up of government bodies, businesses and other interested parties. A map prepared for GAAM, based on the boundary shown on its website, shows the Atlanta Aerotropolis Area, including the airport, covering 418.23 square kilometres of predominantly urban and suburban land, including dispersed residential developments and substantial areas of woodland. The Atlanta Tradeport Zone, near the airport and part of the Atlanta Aerotropolis trade area, hosts international freight firms, customs houses and aviation linked businesses. Commencing operations at the Tradeport, a logistics firm, C.L. Services Inc., described it as ‘one of the most incentivized areas in Georgia’, offering a $4,000 per job tax credit, infrastructure assistance and special financing credits. On the northeast corner of Atlanta Airport, car manufacturer Porsche has opened a 27 acre ‘Experience Center’ complex with a test driving track, driving simulator, gallery, conference space and restaurant. It is Porsche’s biggest ever investment outside Germany. Automotive enthusiasts can burn fossil fuel by gratuitously driving luxury cars around, to add to the thousands of gallons of kerosene burned by each flight. At the opening ceremony, in March 2015, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed referred to Atlanta Airport’s aerotropolis and said businesses wishing to build hotels around the Porsche Experience Center had been in contact. 10-year tax break for carrier at Detroit Metro Airport Spirit Airlines, a low cost domestic carrier, has been granted a ten year tax break a subsidy that will amount to about $1 million, to build a hangar at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. It is part of a Page 20
13 year old ‘grandiose’ aerotropolis plan on land between Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports, VantagePort, that has yet to materialise in spite of tax breaks. Officials hope that a 134 acre industrial park, announced in July, will ‘spur secondary commercial development’. Developer seeks tax break for Memphis aerotropolis Memphis Airport has plans for an aerotropolis and developers are seeking a 15 year tax break for an aerotropolis on 113 acre site. The subsidy would save firms locating on the site $24.4m. Incremental development on airport-owned land is underway. Closing of five former residential streets to make way for a new car rental facility has been approved, on a 19.4 hectare plot in the ‘airport buyout area’ that the airport authority has been purchasing and levelling in preparation for development since the 1980s. Members of the public raised concerns over health impacts of the fuelling facility and car wash station. $3m public funds for Monroe Regional Airport ‘airport city’ In Louisiana, the City of Monroe plans to create an ‘airport city’ at Monroe Regional Airport. The initial cost (to taxpayers) is estimated at $3 million. A perimeter road encircling the airport fence is also planned. Tax breaks at Robert La Fleur Airport business park In Maine, Robert La Fleur Airport boasts of room for more businesses on ‘350 fenced-in acres and another 100 or so beyond that’. The airport and business park are ‘in the foreign trade zone, which allows companies doing business with foreign companies to get tax breaks and duty referrals and receive help with cash flow’. The airport is publicly owned, consistently operates at a loss ($100,000 in the last financial year) and reconstruction of the main runway was funded by the city, state and FAA, to the tune of $728,000. This use of public funds benefits a privileged wealthy minority; the airport is used by private jets.
The aerotropolis maps in this document were produced for GAAM by InTouch GIS Services using publicly available information.
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