John Myers Jr,. Business Reporter
A current view of the front of the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. Travellers are seen on the outside of the refurbished departure section. - File
THE AIRPORTS Authority has revised the work programme for the Norman Manley International Airport terminal upgrade, extending the project completion time by eight months and adding a near half a billion dollars more to the bill.
The adjustments have pushed the project cost on phase 1A to US$104.5 million or approximately J$7.4 billion, after a variation of the project added more than US$6.5 million or $461 million to the cost.
The variation was endorsed in January by the National Contracts Commission.
Earl Richards, president of the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ), said the increase was due to several upgrades that were originally slated to be done in phase 1B, but tells the Financial Gleaner that the new project cost remained within the provisional estimates for the project.
"We have a number of other scope increases that, because we are building into an old (structure), when we opened up, we discovered that there were things that have to be done another way," said Richards.
"Some things have had to be demolished."
The Airports Authority it seems had initially underestimated the depth of the work required to transform the airport operation.
"It's a complex contract for both physical construction in terms of the building, as well as, for the equipment," said the AAJ president.
"There are situations where aspects of the project which were included in the contract provisional sums proved to be inadequate."
Airports Authority has oversight of Jamaica's airports and domestic aerodromes.
Jump in cost
NMIA in Kingston is the smaller of two international airports, behind Sangster International, accounting for 1.7 million passenger movements in 2006, half the business of the MoBay airport, whose tourist movements have pushed its numbers to 3.4 million.
The airport has more than 23,300 aircraft movements per year; Sangster's has more than 46,700.
But NMIA dominates in the handling of cargo, 16 million tonnes compared to SIA's 4 million tonnes.
Richards said the jump in cost is due to the purchase of a standby generator, installation of additional elevators to facilitate the disabled, additional boarding bridges, from four to nine, and renovation of the arrivals concourse.
The dilapidated condition of the arrivals concourse, when viewed against the backdrop of the other renovated areas, necessitated the upgrade, the airports boss said.
A new transportation hall is also to be built to accommodate tour operators and motor vehicle rental companies, as well as tour buses to pick up pre-booked passengers leaving the airport.
New passenger pier
The original plans for phase 1A under the AAJ's 20-year capital development programme provided for: a new departure terminal at the eastern end of the existing building to accommodate expansion of the departure concourse; security screening station with space to accommodate explosives detection equipment, out-going immigration, retail concessions and a departure lounge.
Work under this phase also provides for the construction of a new multi-level passenger pier to separate arriving and departing passengers; the installation of passenger loading bridges, an upgraded roadway system and expanded public car park.
Difficult project
Earl Richards, president of the Airport Authority of Jamaica, says NMIA is a complex project. - File
The extension of the scope of works - in addition to the setbacks suffered by contractor Kier Construction Limited from damage to equipment as a result of Hurricane Dean in September last year - has pushed the completion date to mid-2008.
The original completion date for phase 1A was October 2007.
The upgrade of the airport is being funded by a US$30 million ($1.92 billion) loan from the European Investment Bank and revenues from the airport improvement fee fund.
Richards acknowledged that the project had turned out to be more difficult than anticipated.
"Right now we are preparing to relocate all the airlines over in the old terminal ... to the new section on an interim basis, hand over that area to the contractor, and then create other access routes," he said.
This, he added, was "proving to be a challenge".
The Norman Manley Airport, built in 1968, is the main air transportation hub for business travellers to the island, and the main gateway for air cargo.
john.myers@gleanerjm.com