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Taking flight
The operators of Costa Rica’s main airport have finally secured necessary financing for its modernisation; a project initially launched over a decade ago, but so plagued by conflicts that construction was halted for years. Marieke Breijer talks to the lawyers who guided the project to its second take-off.
It has been a decade since Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport was first privatised and plans for its expansion launched. During that time, the project, worth some US$170 million, has built up a complicated history and seen entirely new players enter the game.
Only now do lawyers working on the project feel confident that the expansion will reach completion, thanks to the US$100 million of financing granted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in September, allowing the airport operator to pay off old debts and complete the final stages of a much-needed and long-awaited expansion of Costa Rica’s main airport.