Alterra Out, HAS Is New
San José Airport Manager
The Juan Santamaría
international airport in
San José may soon be a
finished project now
that the administration
of the airport and
construction completion
is in the hands of a new
management, the Houston
Airport System (HAS), as Alterra
Partners
bows out after not
complying with the
government's ultimatum
to find a financial
solution to the stalled
project.
Alterra's time came up
yesterday (May 14).
Houston Airport System
is now in charge of
completing the airport
terminal which began in
2001.
Viviana Martín,
vice-minister of the Ministerio Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT),
confirmed yesterday that
HAS is the only source
of financing by the
Banco Centroamericano de
Integración Económica (BCIE)
for the project.
However, Alterra may not
totally disappear is it
makes a last effort to
continue with the
project, yesterday making a
proposal the HAS and the
MOPT. However, details
of the proposal were not
made public.
HAS is a consortium made
up of US, Canadian
and Brazilian capital,
which is to assume Alterra's us$90 million
dollar debt and come up
with another us$48
million to finish the
project.
However the
International Air
Transport Association (IATA)
came out critisizing the
consortium, saying that
HAS shot up the
operating costs at Quito
airport in Ecuador.
The IATA contends that
HAS has converted the
Quito airport as one of
the most expensive in
Latin America, losing
its regional
competitivity in tourism
and exports.
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