Chile’s public works minister, Juan Andrés Fontaine, expressed concern regarding the delays in the ongoing US$650mn expansion of Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benítez airport after the concessionaire in charge requested a deadline extension.
Consorcio Nuevo Pudahuel, which won the airport concession in 2015, alerted the country’s concessions panel that the public works ministry (MOP) was behind schedule for revising and approving the designs for the expansion, resulting in delays. The consortium added, however, that the process has gathered pace since the new government took office last March.
Now, the concessionaire requested a deadline extension, from November 2020 to June 2021.
The airport is operating above its maximum capacity of 15mn passengers per year, and while the ongoing expansion would increase capacity to 30mn, the airport will be close to that number once the current works are complete.
Source: BNAmericas