Status update for the Palmerola International Airport concession contract

Statement from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation (SIT)

This is a machine translation of the original statement issued in Spanish

By virtue of the indications of a flawed bidding and award process, added to the mysterious loss of information related to said process for the administration of the Palmerola International Airport, the Secretary of State in the Offices of Infrastructure and Transportation (SIT) Engineer Mauricio Ramos, has exposed "That it is impossible for him to continue signing and endorsing documentation that allows the healthy operation of this Concession."

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation will continue to be the grantor of the contract without affecting the operation and functioning of the Airport.

This decision was born as a result of the constant abuses of a business that is only profitable for the Concessionaire, evidenced based on the following points:

• PIA is exempted from paying ALL taxes and fees, generating a loss of 16 million dollars to the State of Honduras.
• The State assigned $22.85 million to PIA to carry out the works that should be the obligation of the interventionist.
• Supervision report reveals an overestimation in construction costs.
• False projections of passengers, the state has not received, nor will it receive a single lempira of income by clause of the contract (10% when 600 thousand passengers arrive), among others.

In addition to the abuses, there is a history of deception, non-compliance and manipulation turned into a fraud against the State of Honduras; As a member of the current government cabinet, engineer Ramos maintained "That any decision made on this will try to be made with the greatest coherence, transparency and also with high-level arrangements so as not to cause any affectation to users."

In the people's government commanded by the most excellent president Iris Xiomara Castro, transparency prevails; For its part, the Secretariat of Infrastructure and Transportation (SIT), reaffirms its commitment to Honduras and puts a stop to all acts of corruption to which the State has been subjected as a result of the mismanagement of the last 12 years of dictatorship.