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The Development Bank of Jamaica has confirmed the receipt of three bids for the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) PPP project. Proponents are competing to operate, finance, develop and maintain the airport, the second largest in Jamaica, located approximately 30.5km from Kingston city centre.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in June 2017 to eight prequalified teams. The three respondents are:

• Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico
• Corporacion del Este consortium consisting of Corporacion del Este, China Harbour Engineering  Company, Corporacion del Kingston, GBG Energy and Jamaica Producers Group. 
• Egis Projects Consortium consisting of Egis Projects, GK Capital Management, Sagicor Investments Jamaica and Razel-Bec.

The prequalified teams that did not submit final bids include leading international airport operators Vinci Airports, GMR Infrastructure and Zurich Airport International.

NMIA currently serves around 1.5 million passengers per year, with overall traffic levels remaining relatively stable for the past fifteen years. However traffic is projected to grow to 3 million per annum by 2048. The catchment area for the airport has recently been expanded due to improvements to its accessibility, for example through the completion of the North-South Highway, which opened in April 2016.

NMIA is currently operated under a 30-year concession agreement signed in 2003 between Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) and Norman Manley International Airport Airports Limited (NMIAAL), a wholly‐owned subsidiary of the AAJ. The concession agreement signed between AAJ and NMIAAL was intended to be on an interim basis pending the procurement of a qualified private investor/operator. The existing concession will be terminated and replaced by a new concession agreement between AAJ and the concessionaire.

The Government of Jamaica intends to announce the preferred bidder in August 2018 and  execute the concession agreement with the preferred bidder by October 2018. 

The main aims of the concession are to complete the planned modernization and expansion of the airport's facilities and to improve the efficiency of operations. Major capital investments over the life of the concession would include: runway rehabilitation; provision of runway end safety areas and any necessary works for safety compliance.