By Emmanuel Joseph
A new Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract is expected to be in place by early next month for the management of the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) that will bring $300 million in foreign investment for airport development, jobs and enhanced customer experience.
Chairman of the government’s negotiating team Professor Avinash Persaud disclosed to Barbados TODAY on Thursday that the target for the deal to be completed is late November or early December.
Persaud said the negotiations with the investors – the Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of Dubai, and Chilean company Agencias Universales SA – are progressing well and legal drafts have been dealt with.
“We’ve been sharing legal drafts and we are getting together in a couple of weeks to go through the final remaining issues that we need to resolve. We are still targeting late November/early December to have completed the contractual relations…. It means that we would have a contract,” he disclosed.
However, Persaud, who is the Special Envoy on Investment and Financial Services to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, pointed out that once the new agreement is concluded, it will take nearly a year before it is put into full operation.
“The strategy is to have… almost a year, subject to change, [where] we are ‘practising’, so we can quickly identify any issues and problems,” he explained.
When Persaud spoke to Barbados TODAY in July, he said then that “if we agree to a contract in 90 days, we will be going to an interim arrangement at that point, and we can expect the first of two phases of the $300 million to start in about two years once all the planning and engineering has been completed”.
“I know that sounds like a long time to wait, but you need to start right to get it right. Getting here has been exhausting,” he added.
The investment expert noted that the parties, having already agreed to the “headline” terms of the contract, are fine-tuning the details of the deal.
In July this year, GAIA Inc and the investing stakeholders signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the comprehensive investment package for Barbados.
The PPP is for the investment, development and operation of the airport, a hemispheric hub for cargo, expanded airlift and additional luxury hotel capacity.
Persaud had also assured that in the proposed partnership being negotiated, all current contracts would be honoured, including workers’ and tenants’ terms and conditions.
The financial consultant also stated that if Barbados gets the $300 million investment, it would be partly used to maintain current standards.
He said the money is also partly an investment upgrade to take Grantley Adams International to the next level, allowing bigger planes to land, sorting out structures, and going solar as part of the island’s net-zero target by 2030.
“And it’s partly money to enhance the customer experience. So, for example, protecting arriving and departing customers from the elements, improving the air condition…. Nowadays, you can’t arrive at an A-class airport when it’s raining and get wet, so we need to sort that out,” he contended.
Persaud said that in return for the multi-million-dollar investment, instead of Barbados getting debt, it will share future and increased revenue with the new partners.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
