Govt to call bids for Norman Manley airport privatization by year-end

Jamaica's government plans to launch a tender for the privatization of Norman Manley international airport in capital Kingston this year, Abigail Rolon, a senior consultant in business transactions at international engineering firm Arup, told BNamericas. "We are advising the [International Finance Corporation] IFC and the Jamaican government on the privatization of the airport, and we expect a tender by the end of the year," Rolon said. Arup is currently preparing all of the documentation required before a call for bids can be issued, the executive added. Norman Manley is the Jamaica's second largest airport, mainly handling business passengers and cargo. In 2010, the terminal handled some 17,000t of cargo, or 70% of the country's total airfreight that year. The government has been toying with the idea of privatizing the airport for several years, according to Rolon. In 2003, the country's largest international airport, Sangster in Montego bay, was privatized, and is currently operated by consortium MBJ Airports, including Canada's Vancouver Airport Services and Spainish firm Abertis. The terminal handles some 9mn passengers per year. The full interview with Abigail Rolon is published in this week's Infrastructure Perspectives, for subscribers only.