Background
St Helena island is a self-governing UK Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic with a population of around 4,250. The Department for International Development (now part of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office – FCDO) provided the St Helena government with £285.5 million to design, build and operate an airport and related infrastructure. It was completed in 2016 and aimed to improve St Helena’s accessibility and boost income from tourism. FCDO forecast that the investment would support the island to become self-sustaining and no longer require subsidy from the UK government in the long term.
Scope
In 2016, we published Realising the benefits of the St Helena Airport project, which found that the business case for the project was highly sensitive to tourist numbers and spend. It identified risks to growth such as available accommodation failing to meet tourist demand. This investigation is an update to our 2016 report and will look at FCDO’s support to, and oversight of, the St Helena government’s management of the airport and related infrastructure, including:
- what progress has been made realising the airport’s intended benefits
- what are the current and future arrangements for, and anticipated cost of, operating and maintaining the airport and associated infrastructure on St Helena
NAO Team
Director: Lee Summerfield
Senior Audit Manager: Andy Whittingham