COVID-19 delays new AFB Durban build
Written by defenceWeb -
15 Squadron Oryx on mountain rescue mission.
Another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa is the new air force base at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport – with occupancy now expected “around the end of 2025”.
“Work commenced in 2019 with environmental impact assessment as well as the landscaping (levelling of the ground). The construction timeframe is five years, however it will be moved to the right with a year due to the lost year as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. According to time schedule, the new base is anticipated to be occupied around the end of 2025 to the beginning of 2026 provided that no other external factors impede the construction progress (sic),” was how SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Director: Corporate Communication, Brigadier General Mafi Mgobozi, responded to a defenceWeb enquiry on progress for a new home for 15 Squadron and the SA Air Force’s (SAAF’s) onl