The recent trip made by President Goodluck Jonathan to South Africa which was truncated by security challenges in the country was aimed at improving the bilateral developmental ties between Nigeria and South Africa. At a function in Johannesburg, South Africa, President Goodluck Jonathan declared the intention of his administration to change the business model of the country’s aviation industry through increased private sector participation in proposed Aerotropolis concept. The aerotropolis model brings together airport planning, urban and regional planning, and business-site planning, to create a new urban form that is highly competitive, attractive, and sustainable. Aerotropolis is a business planning model that brings clusters of travel related businesses like tourism, hospitality, shopping , fashion and others together within an airport environment.
The government believes that the transformation would maximise the contribution of the industry to the socio-economic development of Nigeria through increased trade. The President emphasized that Nigeria is serious about the development of the aviation sector through the Aerotropolis project, which he said is the new centre of growth in the global aviation industry. He explained that the country’s aviation sector was ideally positioned as a catalyst of growth for key economic sectors, including travel, tourism, agriculture, rural development, trade, commerce, and manufacturing and communications technology.
The position President Jonathan was made public in an online statement signed by the Special Assistant, Media to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi. According to the President, the Aerotropolis would specifically target diversification of the economy through increased economic activity, technology transfer, increased trade through global partnerships, value chain development and rural transformation especially in exploiting the country’s agro-export opportunities, employment potential, local and foreign business development and private sector investment. In the words of the President: “We are committed to supporting private sector-driven Aerotropolis to rapidly become the commercial nexus, anchoring aviation-enabled trade in goods and services; and driving business development from the Aerotropolis to neighboring cities, towns and the entire West African region.”
The Federal Government’s plan to open up the aviation industry for commerce is a move in the right direction. Major airports have become key nodes in global production and enterprise systems offering speed, agility, and connectivity. They are also powerful engines of local economic development, attracting aviation-linked businesses of all types to their environs. These include, among others, time-sensitive manufacturing and distribution facilities; hotel, entertainment, retail, convention, trade and exhibition complexes; and office buildings that house air-travel intensive executives and professionals.
The rapid expansion of airport-linked commercial facilities is making today’s air gateways anchors of 21st century metropolitan development where distant travelers and locals alike can conduct business, exchange knowledge, shop, eat, sleep, and be entertained without going more than 15 minutes from the airport. This functional and spatial evolution is transforming many city airports into airport cities.
As more and more aviation-oriented businesses are being drawn to airport cities and along transportation corridors radiating from them, a new urban form is emerging—the Aerotropolis—stretching up to 20 miles (30 kilometers) outward from some airports. Analogous in shape to the traditional metropolis made up of a central city and its rings of commuter-heavy suburbs, the Aerotropolis consists of an airport city and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses and associated residential development. A number of these clusters such as Amsterdam Zuidas, Las Colinas, Texas, and South Korea’s Songdo International Business District have become globally significant airport edge-cities representing planned postmodern urban mega-development in the age of the Aerotropolis.
Since
the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah came up with the
project, many international firms and government organisations have
pledged to collaborate with the Federal Government to make it come to
fruition. For the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd
(CSCEC), it would invest in the development of Aerotropolis within the
major international airports in Nigeria. Overseas operations Vice
President of the corporation, Yu Zhende described Nigeria as a ‘major’
country in Africa; hence, the development of its aviation sector would
establish the country as a major hub on the African continent.The company also expressed its readiness to sign an agreement and mobilise to site as soon as the Nigerian and Chinese governments come to a compromise. “We will move as fast as the Nigerian government wants us to move,” he said and assured that financing the project would not pose any serious challenge for the Chinese government once an agreement is reached.
The above aspiration of the Federal Government will not occur under most current airport area planning approaches which tend to be localized, politically and functionally fragmented, and often conflicted. A new approach is required to bring together airport planning, urban and regional planning, and business-site planning in a synergistic manner so that future Aerotropolis development will be more economically efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and socially and environmentally sustainable. The real question is not whether Aerotropolises will evolve around major airports. The challenge is whether they will form and grow in an intelligent manner, minimizing problems and bringing about the greatest returns to the airport, its users, businesses, surrounding communities, and the larger region it serves.
The true challenge is planning to get the Aerotropolis right. According to an Aerotropolis expert, John D. Kasarda, if there is not appropriate planning, airport-area development will be spontaneous, haphazard, economically inefficient, and ultimately unsustainable.
Culled from Orient News
