Airport upgrade

The Mia Mottley administration’s protracted $300m deal to operate Grantley Adams International Airport has suffered its fifth delay, with officials now targeting completion by the end of the year after missing a March deadline, the government confirmed late Friday.

The most recent timeline by which the authorities had expected the public-private partnership (PPP) contract to be finalised was March this year. With that deadline having passed, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn is now hoping the deal will be concluded by year-end.

“Ideally, I would like it to be concluded before the end of this month, but based on what I am seeing before me, I think it will be safe to say that it can be concluded before the end of the year so that we can see movement on that,” Straughn told Barbados TODAY.

In July 2023, the state enterprise running the airport, GAIA Inc., and a joint consortium of investors – the Private Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of Dubai and Chilean company Agencias Universales SA – signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government for a comprehensive investment package.

The PPP is for the investment, development and operation of the airport, a hemispheric hub for cargo, expanded airlift and additional luxury hotel capacity, jobs and enhanced customer experience.

But, said Straughn: “We have already taken decisions in relation to expansion; and therefore, the inclusion of some air bridges and expanding the aprons and that type of thing is being scoped at the moment, and obviously, once the financing arrangement is in place, then those things will be taken up by the entity.

“But the reality is that, irrespective of whatever happens, Barbados has to make sure that its civil aviation infrastructure is indeed, in tip-top shape. We have seen a lot of people come through post-COVID, and therefore, we are working on all fronts to make sure that everything is in place.”

He also revealed that an audit of the airport was recently conducted by the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to assess the airport’s readiness to become a coveted category one gateway.

“An audit was taken sometime last month, and we too, want to make sure that the capacity to have a pre-clearance facility at the airport, with the US, where you will effectively be like travelling on a domestic flight, where you just come in . . .once you clear security on the other side, you just come out on this side and vice versa, similar to what happens in the Bahamas and other parts of the region,” the minister announced, while not revealing the findings of the audit at this stage.

He said the looming global trade war provides Barbados with an opportunity to broaden access to elsewhere in the US, rather than just New York and Miami.

Straughn said: “This is a puzzle piece that I think, once we get right, we should see significantly more passenger traffic flowing through the airport, bringing more business to Barbados. In my constituency, you are seeing more people putting their properties into Airbnb, more tourists walking around in Kingsland and Lodge Road. You are seeing it across the country, so community tourism will be enhanced.”

He pointed out that one of the delays came with the COVID pandemic, when there was global uncertainty in air travel.

“Now that we have seen, not just a recovery, but as we have said to the stakeholders, we really want to make sure that the investment is taking place. It has taken long, and we have had to take some other decisions to make sure the airport continues to see investment come in, irrespective of the arrangement; but it is regretted that it has taken as long as it is. Obviously, due diligence and all that have to be in place.”

He pointed out that in this regard, the government has done a lot of work on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in a bid to enhance Barbados’ reputation in the investment community.

He said: “We need to make sure that all the boxes are ticked, because, when you are moving outside of the normal places where you do business, that does cause a little bit of a gap … because, we have banks that are not owned by Barbadians, and therefore, they report to external headquarters; and therefore, the heightened due diligence requirements for people you are not accustomed to doing business with.”

This is so, he reasoned, especially with family-owned businesses, as many of the entities in the Middle East tend to be.

Straughn explained that those types of businesses attract a higher level of scrutiny than publicly traded companies: “That has been part of the challenge. I don’t think it is a hindrance per se, but you will be doing business with somebody new, and therefore, you had to make sure that all of that due diligence is put in place.”

The minister stressed that the government was not selling the airport, only handing it to a concessionaire to manage.

Workers have again been assured of job protection and no lesser terms and conditions of employment. emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb