Posted by The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) will help Mauritius develop a new passenger terminal at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR) International Airport in Port Louis, APA learned Friday.
In this context a delegation of the Airports of Mauritius Limited (AML) is leaving the country on Saturday to proceed to the PRC to finalize a deal with the Export and Import (EXIM) Bank of China for a concessionary loan of €195 million for financing the project.
A release from the AML on Friday in Port Louis indicates that consultants are expected to complete the design by February 2009 and that after the completion of the works the airport will be able to handle some 4 million passengers annually.
The communiqué observes that the terminal which was built to accommodate 750 passengers at peak hours has become saturated as over the years air traffic has increased and sometimes more than 1,200 passengers are in the terminal at the same time.
The communiqué also indicates that the project is in line with the SSR International Airport Master Plan in partnership with Aéroport de Paris Management (ADPM).
The release states that in this context, a partnership agreement was signed in June 2008 between AML and ADPM which provides that ADPM will be the strategic partner for the development project.
Also the release points out that the project comprises the construction of a new passenger terminal with state of the art technology and other facilities including aircraft parking stands, an extension of the capacity of the car park at the airport and the rehabilitation of the present passenger terminal.
Work on the new project is scheduled to start by July 2009 and is expected to end in 2 years time, according to the communiqué.
Source African Press Agency
