Two Jamaican conglomerates among NMIA airport bidders
Published:Tuesday | April 28, 2015 | 5:44 PM
On Tuesday the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing reported that investors lined up to bid for the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) concession includes Argentinean, Korean and Chinese firms, with some local participation among the bidding consortia.
The groups short-listed to bid on the airport are: Cedicor S.A. (Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 S.A.); Zurich Airport International AG and A-Port Chile S.A; Korea Airport Corporation Latin America and GK Capital Management Limited; China Harbour Engineering Company Limited and DAA International Limited and Corporación Aeroportuaria del Este S.A.S (Punta Cana International Airport), Jamaica Producers Group Limited and GBG Energy S. de RL.
Local company GraceKennedy Limited, through subsidiary GK Capital, will be part of the Korea Airport Corporation Latin America consortium, while Jamaica Producers will be part of the Corporacion Aeroportuaria del Este S.A.S consortium.
The Ministry said the Request for Proposal (RfP) to the prequalified firms should be issued in June, following which firms will be allowed to conduct due diligence on the airport in preparation for bid submissions.
The NMIA is owned by the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) and is currently operated through its wholly owned subsidiary NMIA Airports Limited.
The selected investor is expected, in the first seven years of the concession, to invest at least US$120 million - which translates to J$13.8 billion at current exchange rates - in a 500-metre runway extension, runway rehabilitation, and ICAO compliance projects.
NMIA is Jamaica's second-largest airport located off the Palisadoes strip in Kingston.
At year ending March 2014, the airport earned US$26.06 million ($2.9 billion) of revenue. It handled 1.423 million passenger movements in 2014, and 12.33 million kgs of freight, including mail.