Ullastre

Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer

MADRID, Spain:

Satisfied with its US$160 million (J$11.2 billion) investment in the Sangster International Airport, Spanish investor Abertis is now eyeing Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA), the company's president Demetrio Ullastres has disclosed.

Abertis owns 74.5 per cent of MBJ Airports Limited, operators of the state-of-the-art airport under expansion in the tourism capital of Montego Bay. The four-year project is scheduled for completion in October.

Already in talks

In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner on Friday, the Abertis official revealed that he was already in talks with Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry with the hope of establishing an agreement, similar to that with the Sangster International Airport, to enhance NMIA. The company holds the concession to operate and expand the Sangster International Airport for 30 years.

"We are happy working in Jamaica and if there is an opportunity to help the Government, that is what we will do," Ullastres stated, adding that the island's business environment was attractive to his organisation. "There is legal, political and economic stability in Jamaica," he reasoned.

In aggressively courting other areas for development, Ullastres also announced that he was again bidding for the Highway 2000 contract, which his company lost to French construction conglomerate Bouygues Travaux a few years ago. Boasting ownership and operation of 3,300 km of toll roads in Spain and France, Abertis believes its track record will ensure it wins the Highway 2000 contract.

The pronouncements by Abertis' head comes one month after the company completed its purchase from ACS (Actividades de Construcción y Servicios) of 100 per cent of Desarrollo de Concesiones Aeroportuarias, a holding company with stakes in 15 airports in Mexico, Jamaica, Chile and Colombia.