Liberia Airport To Have
Modern Radar
(Infocom) — Starting
next month, Costa Rica
will have a new radar
aimed at detecting
aircraft from long
distances to help
prevent accidents.
Also in October, when
the new radar is
expected to be
operational, the
surveillance equipment
at Liberia’s Daniel
Oduber International
Airport will be updated.
The equipment to be
installed is tracking
multi-radar, which shows
readings from five
antennas in a single
screen. One of these
antennas will be located
in Mata de Caña,
Guanacaste.
This radar will be part
of scheduled
infrastructure
improvements to the
Liberia airport, which
is scheduled to be
remodeled once a bidder
is chosen to construct a
new terminal there. So
far, only one bidder,
CORIPORT — a consortium
of five companies — has
submitted a proposal to
the National Concessions
Council (CNC) to design,
finance, build, operate
and maintain the new
terminal at Daniel
Oduber.
CORIPORT includes ADC &
HAS Aviation S.A (United
States); MMM Aviation
Group S.A (Canada); and
Costa Rican firm Brad &
Tod Corporation S.R.L,
Cocobolo Inversiones
S.R.L., and Emperador
Pez Espada S.R.L.
According to Concessions
Vice Minister Guillermo
Matamoros, a commission
made up of CNC and Civil
Aviation General Office
(DGAC) functionaries
will study the legal
admissibility and
technical aspects of the
bid, after which a
financial study of the
bidder will be made —
and everything pans out
OK, the contract will be
awarded within 30
working days. According
to CNC’s schedule, work
on the airport is to
begin in April 2009 and
last for a year. The
concession for
administration of the
terminal would be for a
period between 20 and 25
years.
Matamoros pointed out
that the annual growth
in tourist visitation at
Daniel Oduber, of up to
20 percent in recent
years, motivated the
concession of this
project. According to
data from the Civil
Aviation Technical
Council (CETAC), a total
of 365,000 arrived in
Costa Rica via the
Liberia airport in 2006
alone, and it is
expected that some
526,000 will do so by
2010.
By building a new
terminal, which will be
located west of the
current building for a
total area of 15,000
square meters, civil
aviation administration
said passengers will be
properly accommodated at
least until 2014.
The concession plans
calls for the airport’s
new operator to increase
the size of the terminal
by 5,000 square meters
every year after 2014,
or as needed to meet
demand. The
concessionaire will have
a total of 72,500 square
meters of land available
for such expansions,
including room for
parking and commercial
space. In addition to
the terminal, the bid
also calls for
construction of access
areas, vehicle
circulation areas,
sidewalks and parking
lots. |
