Liberia Airport Concession Contract Signed
(InfoWebPress) – Last June 24, the
concession contract for construction work
and management of Liberia’s Daniel Oduber
International Airport was signed. According
to the contract, us$35 million will be
invested in the design, construction,
maintenance and operation of a new passenger
terminal.
The Coriport S.A. consortium will be in
charge of erecting the new terminal, which
will consist of two levels for a total area
of 22,949 square meters. The companies that
make up the consortium are MMM Aviation
Group S.A, Houston Airport System, Emperador
Pez Espada S.R.L, Brad & Tod Corporation
S.R.L, and Cocobolo Inversiones S.R.L.
An annual growth rate of 20 percent in
tourist visitation via the Liberia airport
has forced Costa Rican aviation officials to
build a new terminal to meet demand. The new
facilities will have capacity for 1,500
people, while the current terminal can only
accommodate 900 passengers.
The terminal’s lower level will include the
immigration and customs offices, equipment
handling, area for incoming passengers,
airline offices and airport administration.
The second level will house the waiting
areas for outgoing passengers, concourses
and boarding areas, and offices for
government officials.
The first level will have a total area of
17,637 square meters. The Civil Aviation
General Office (DGAC) will provide the
boarding gates.
Once the contract is given the OK by the
Comptroller General’s Office, the consortium
will have five months to come up with final
design and financing. Following that, it
will have six months to build the new
terminal. The contract also awards Coriport
S.A. operation and maintenance of the
terminal for 20 years, which will be
supervised by the state.
Recently, with monies from the 2008 DGAC
budget, the Ministry of Transportation and
Public Infrastructure (MOPT) invested 3.796
billion colones ($654 million) in expansion
and improvement projects at Daniel Oduber.
Of that amount, 3.386 billion ($583 million)
were used to expand the parking platform of
the airport, which can hold 11 airplanes
instead of four as in the past.
The rest of the funds were used to build a
land equipment platform (to store equipment)
and for improvements to the runway.
Additionally, some 310 million colones ($534
million) were used for other improvements to
the runway and for horizontal signage.
Those funds were also used to improve the
taxing surface for airplanes (some 500
meters long and 16 meters wide). The
existing pavement was removed and a new,
10-centimeter thick asphalt layer (with a
useful life of 20 years) was installed.
“The decision to provide Guanacaste with the
best infrastructure possible has been
carried out in a constant, planned manner
during the past three years by the MOPT
team,” Transportation Minister Karla
Gonzalez said at the signing of the
contract.
The contract was signed at the same time
that an announcement was made regarding the
fact that the Liberia airport will welcome
new charter flights from Canada, Belgium,
the United Kingdom, Germany and possibly
Spain during the second half of this year.
Tourism Minister Carlos Ricardo Benavides
said the expansion of charter flights to
Liberia will help the country deal with the
effects of global travel slowdown.
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