SKUKUZA – South African National Parks (SANParks) on Wednesday announced the successful bidders for the provision of restaurant and retail services at various national parks under its management.
The announcements were made at the organisation’s headquarters in Pretoria following weeks of adjudication which began with tender processes.
A new retail agreement was signed between SANParks and Tourvest for operations in the Kruger National Park (KNP), Tsitsikamma and Addo Elephant National Park.
According to the CEO of SANParks, Dr David Mabunda, this was done mainly to improve tourists shopping experiences and to upgrade the shops and make them eco-friendly. “SANParks has placed focus on value for money for all clients in appointing Tourvest”.
The organisation also embarked on a tender process to appoint operators for restaurants in the KNP. The bidders had several obligations to meet, such as operating, development and refurbishment requirements. They had BBBEE targets to meet as well as environmental obligations.
It was announced that in the KNP’s, Lower Sabie; Olifants and Letaba camps Mugg and Bean restaurants will be fully operational from March 2014, while the Pretoriuskop and Satara rest camps will have Wimpy restaurants with operations expected to commence also in March 2014.
The Skukuza Selati restaurant will be operated by Ciao! and are expected to start operations in December 2013 and the main camp restaurant and take away will be serviced by Cattle Baron and Bistro. Operations will start in May 2014 because of extensive refurbishment.
Details were also given of refurbishments and timelines for the Skukuza Airport after an earlier announcement that airport will be serviced by the Skukuza Airport Management Company, a consortium consisting of Airlink; Federal Air; Lion Sands and Community Development Trust. The consortium will operate the airport for ten years from the commencement of operations.
The service will operate under strict environmentally acceptable conditions. Hours of operations will be limited to between 9H00 and 15H00. Runway refurbishment commences on the 4 November. The terminal refurbishment will start early in 2014 with flights expected to commence on the 2 June 2014 from OR Tambo International.
Dr Mabunda congratulated all the newly appointed operators and expressed his satisfaction that all proper channels were followed. “I look forward to rave reviews from our clients on service, convenience, satisfaction and value for money, we will as always monitor the performance of our new partners and look forward to a mutually benefitting relationship,’ concluded Dr Mabunda.