Govt. signs terminal contract for Kingston airport upgrades

Jamaica's government has signed a US$3.2mn contract for the design of a terminal and various facilities at capital Kingston's Norman Manley international airport, as part of a 20-year development program, the Jamaica Observer reported. The government will spend an additional 16.5mn Jamaican dollars (US$277,000) over the next 15 months to extend the airport's curb-side drop-off area and renovate check-in facilities. Canadian-led consortium Sypher Mueller of Ottawa and Llwelyn-Davis of London won the bid to provide designs for the development of the airport's physical facilities, as well as land use as part of the long-term development. National firm Cooper & Associates won the contract for a short-term rehabilitation for the check-in side of the existing terminal. "It is projected that construction will be completed and the improved facilities commissioned into service in 15 months," the paper quoted transport minister Robert Pickersgill as saying. The airport is managed by government company Norman Manley International Airport Ltd. (NMIA), which until earlier this year operated Montego Bay's Sangster international airport as well. NMIA will operate the Normal Manley until it is privatized, the paper said. The projects will be funded through NMIA from the airport improvement fees (AIF) of US$5 paid by outgoing passengers. Since February, when the AIF was introduced, US$1.94mn has been collected at the Sangster International Airport and US$1.08mn at Norman Manley.