Asunción airport PPP draws international heavyweights

At least 12 companies are expected to compete for the public-private partnership project to upgrade and expand Paraguay's Silvio Pettirossi international airport serving capital Asunción.

Six companies have already purchased the bidding rules for the tender, while another six are in the process of doing so, said Luis Aguirre, president of civil aviation agency Dinac.

Among those seeking the contract are France's Vinci, Argentina's Benito Roggio, Korean International Airport, and Spain's OHL, Aguirre said in a public works and communications ministry (MOPC) release.

The tender for the project was launched in December and bids are due to be opened on April 26.

If all goes as planned, the tender will be awarded in July, with the formal contract to be signed in November and works to commencing in March 2017.

Under a PPP arrangement, approximately US$150mn is to be invested in the airport, with some US$104mn planned for the first of three phases of modernization. The concession period is set at 30 years.

The project will increasing the size of the passenger terminal and the airport apron, after which Silvio Pettirossi's passenger handling capacity will increase to 3.3mn per year, up from current capacity of 915,000.

Silvio Pettirossi saw 910,554 passengers in 2015, roughly flat on the previous year, according to Dinac statistics.