THE Government yesterday announced plans to privatise Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport, a move that could save the administration from financing a US$127-million expansion, needed to keep pace of that airport's growing passenger demand.

At the same time a $50-million contract was yesterday awarded to Matrix Construction Limited to build a state-of-the-art incinerator at the airport.

Robert Pickersgill, the transport and works minister, said the successful bidder for the airport would have to manage and finance the expansion at the facility, which is expected to double in passenger demand by the next decade.

"To meet these requirements... will require a capital of US$127 million for terminal expansion, airside development, general infrastructure development and major maintenance," Pickersgill told reporters.

He said the Government would, however, establish the appropriate legal and regulatory framework to attract the requisite financing.

The airport is expected to turn a $119-million profit this fiscal year, according to projections from the Ministry of Finance's estimates and revenues report. The airport has made a $440.8 million loss last year (due to redundancy payments capital expansion) and a $119 million loss the previous year.

The transport and works minister gave no timeline for the privatisation of the airport, but it could occur shortly after the implementation of the incinerator project, which is scheduled to be completed in eight months. The incinerator is the final phase of the Airport Reform and Improvement Programme which began seven years ago.

"Even as we plan the privatisation you have to plan work so that expansion picks up with the demand. The fact that you are doing some work at the airport means it would go on even as you plan to privatise," said Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) chairman, Dennis Morrison.

"What we are doing now is putting in place preliminary planning that would put us in a position to provide a timeframe. A whole process has to be done in terms of privatisation... But before that, however, the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) --the implementing body -- and the AAJ have to do a lot of planning work," said Morrison.

The Government earlier this year finalised plans for the privatisation of Montego Bay's Sangster International Airport, which this year is expected to cut the Government's expenses at that port from $1 billion for the 2002/3 fiscal year to $56 million this year. The airport made losses for 2002/03 and 2001/02.

The $180 million expansion and upgrading work at the Sangster International Airport officially began in June -- three months after the official take-over of the airport's operations by the international consortium, MBJ Airports Limited.

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