Promoting “budget beach holidays” near Port Elizabeth and East London is listed in the Eastern Cape Provincial Development Plan (PDP) as one of the “strategic interventions” required to develop domestic tourism in the province.
Other “strategic interventions” required, it states, are the upgrading of inner-city environments, beachfronts and associated tourism attractions in Port Elizabeth and East London as well as elsewhere.
The PDP also calls for an investigation into marina and waterfront developments in Port Elizabeth and East Lon-don as well as Port St Johns.
Further, it states that a strategic intervention is required to improve access to the province, specifically through the Port Elizabeth International Airport.
There are currently no international flights to the city.
Former Transport Minister Ben Martins said in reply to a question in 2012 that the extension of the runway at the Port Elizabeth Airport would cost R500 mil-lion.
Martins said that the Department of Transport Master Plan made provision for an additional runway of up to 1 200 metres in a south-westerly direction.
He said the timing of the extension would be determined by “the sustainable demand created by new flights requiring the additional runway length.
Article published from Metro Minutes by Patrick Cull”.
