I am responding to an earlier letter from John Bowell asking what has Kempsey got from the $2.673M invested in Kempsey Airport over recent years. The following may help answer that question.
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Development of the Aviation Business Park proceeded without an adequate Airport Master Plan.
Development was stifled from the start when council shelved all other applicants in favour of the Australian International Aviation College (AIAC). DA’s for hanger construction were not accepted by council for two years as the new park was reserved while AIAC considered its options and submitted plans for a takeover of all available area.
AIAC recently abandoned its plans for an $18 million training facility after facing legitimate community opposition to the large-scale expansion of pilot training operations and failure to get State Government approval for the project.
The State Government grant of $173,000 for the new fuel system was well short of the realistic cost of the proposal as it was decided to supply both Avgas and Jet A1 fuels.
By the time tenders were called for some 18 months later, costs had escalated to about $350,000 - and that was using the lowest tender.
The new automated fuel system has sat dormant since August 2017 when both fuel types were prematurely loaded into the tanks at a cost of around $140,000.
None of this fuel has been dispensed to date and an estimated $4,000 has been wasted over that time in testing and responsibly disposing of the samples.
The Avgas fuel has now been stored unused for so long that it is out of specification and can not be used. The remaining Avgas, valued at $40,000, will need to be disposed of properly at a cost of $10,000. All at ratepayers’ expense.
Deferring DA’s from interested parties over the three years of the new park and the withdrawal of AIAC’s mega training facility proposal has left a huge void in prospective development, as the initial enthusiasm has been dampened as Councillors realise what is actually involved in owning and operating an airport and the favouring of AIAC as the only tenancy option - a far cry from the initial concept of an Aviation Park.
With pressure on council to rightly eliminate or minimise user-unfriendly large-scale circuit training and the stifling of all other ideas and developments in favour of AIAC, the plan for an Aviation Park as originally envisaged is in the throes of failure - at enormous expense to council and ratepayers.
On the brighter side, it is hoped council’s new Executive team can address the sins of the past, genuinely engage the community and turn things around. They deserve a chance.
David Perrin,
West Kempsey
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