By the Aug. 8 deadline, only one company offered to shoulder the new international terminal expansion at the DanielOduberAirport in Liberia, according to the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).
CORIPORT, a consortium of five national and foreign companies, turned in its bid on Aug. 7 to the National Concessions Council. The group would design, finance, build, operate and maintain the new terminal for 20 to 25 years, should its bid be approved by the council and the Civil Aviation Administration.
The five companies in the consortium include: ADC & HAS Aviation S.A., of the United States; MMM Aviation Group S.A., of Canada; and Costa Rican companies Brad & Tod Corporation S.R.L.; Cocobolo Inversiones S.R.L.; and Emperador Pez Espada S.R.L.
At an estimated price of $18 million, the new terminal will be located to the east of the current facility, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, and measure 15,000 square meters.
Should CORIPORT’s bid be accepted, it would be responsible for periodic expansions of up to 5,000 square meters every five years, starting in 2014.
Work would begin on the airport as early as April 2009 and wrap up within a year, according to the council’s forecast. But the Guanacaste Tourism Chamber (CATURGUA) predicted the airport expansion would be completed much later.
Alvaro Conejo, president of CATURGUA’s board of directors, said construction would begin next August and be finished by September 2010.
By Conejo’s count, 20 firms had expressed interest in the Oduber expansion, but only CORIPORT followed through. The Technical Council of the Civil Aviation Authority reported that 365,000 people passed through the Liberia airport in 2006. That number could reach as high as 526,000 by 2010.
Space is not a concern.
“We now have space for people waiting in transit,” said Conejo, adding that the airport could potentially accommodate 1,200 people with no problem.
During peak travel season, only about 850 people circulate the airport at any one time, Conejo said.
