The winner will finance, develop and maintain the airport, the second largest in Jamaica after Sangster International, which serves the tourist resort of Montego Bay.
A request for proposals was issued by the Ministry of Transport to eight prequalified bidders in June 2017. The three that responded are:
- Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico
- A team led by Corporación del Este, a subsidiary of Dominican developer Grupo Puntacana. This team also includes China Harbour Engineering and local companies Corporación del Kingston, GBG Energy and Jamaica Producers Group
- A team led by Egis Projects, a French engineer that specialises in international transport PPPs. Its team includes Jamaican investment adviser GK Capital Management, Kingston finance house Sagicor Investments Jamaica and Razel-Bec, the civil engineering arm of France’s Fayat Group.
Among the prequalified teams that did not submit final bids were Vinci Airports, GMR Infrastructure of India, Zurich Airport International, Cedicor of Argentina, the Korea Airport Corporation and A-Port Chile.
The government of Jamaica expects to announce the preferred bidder by the end of August, after determining whether the bids received meet its legal, technical and financial criteria. The final deal is due to be signed in October.