Brian Homewood/RIO de JANEIRO
BRAZIL INTENDS to invest $2.4 billion in airports, between now and the year 2000, and wants to encourage private investment, says airport authority Infraero. One-third of the investment will be in Brazil's northeast because of its increasing importance as a tourist region.
Infraero says that the investments include construction of new airports in Rio Blanco, capital of the Amazonian State of Acre, and Fortaleze and Natal, both in the northeast. The authority forecasts that, by 2000, 100 million passengers and 4 million tonnes of cargo a year will pass through Brazil's airports. The projects will be financed jointly by Infraero and the local and state governments.
Infraero says that auxiliary services will be passed to private enterprise, but there are no plans to hand over the operational side. "It requires large investments, profits are small or non-existent and would not be feasible, as most airports are shared with the military," the authority says.
Infraero has already approached pension funds as potential investors, and says that there are no restrictions on foreign participation in projects.
Source: Flight International