Nicaragua plan to build Punta Huete int’l airport moves forward

Nicaragua’s national assembly said it approved a loan from China to turn the Punta Huete airport – a military facility in San Francisco Libre municipality – into an international airport. 

The financing agreement worth 2.87bn yuan (US$400mn) was signed in December by authorities from the two countries. 

As part of the agreement, the contract to execute the project was awarded to Chinese firm CAMC Engineering in October. No further details regarding the contract have been disclosed since the announcement. 

The project involves rebuilding, expanding and modernizing the airport so it can serve 3.5mn passengers per year, and reduce the number of lay overs between Nicaragua and Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania. 

The airport will have a 60m-wide runway with an extension of 3.6km. 

The country’s only international airport is Augusto C. Sandino in capital Managua. It has been operating for over 68 years and the potential to expand its capacity is limited.

“The Punta Huete airport modernization also promises to establish a multimodal logistics hub, as it is linked to other strategic projects like the construction of a railway, building the Bluefields deepwater port, and the installation of new logistics and industrial services areas,” the assembly said in a press release on Friday, adding that Nicaragua must catch up with other Central American countries that have several international airports.