Legislators Request Declarations
Regarding Airport

Legislators are once again jumping into the multimillion-dollar contract dispute that has enveloped Juan Santamaría International Airport, northwest of San José, for more than two years.

They have summoned Minister of Public Works and Transport Randall Quirós and Mónica Nágel, executive director of the company Alterra Partners, which holds the contract to operate and renovate the airport, to testify before the assembly regarding the dispute. Legislators plan to hear Quirós and Nagel – representing the two disputing parties – present their versions of the latest negotiations, which resulted in a contract addendum to bring financial equilibrium to the contract.

Legislators expect the explanations will shed some light on the contract addendum, which so far has been kept secret, National Liberation Party legislator Luis Ramírez explained yesterday to Radio Monumental.

The request comes on the heels of the resignation last week of four members of the Technical Council of the Civil Aviation Authority (CETAC). The contract addendum must be approved by CETAC, as well as by the Comptroller General, before it can go into effect.

The first member of CETAC to resign was Transport Vice-Minister and president of the council Roberto Arguedas, who resigned Aug. 17. Despite the CETAC connection, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) released a statement saying the reason for the resignation was Arguedas's desire to return to the private sector as a lawyer.

On Aug. 18, pilot Alvaro Escalante, lawyer Adolfo Gutiérrez and economist Carlos Soto followed suit in stepping down from CETAC, which impeded the approval of the addendum.

While all have said they resigned for personal reasons, the daily press is reporting that the resignations may have been caused by pressure to approve the addendum.

“A debate will be held Tuesday in the Legislative Assembly” with the goal of learning more details about “this dubious and secret negotiation,” Ramírez said.

The contract addendum is confidential, but essentially it lays out a formula to bring financial equilibrium to Alterra's contract. The agreement was reached in June, at which point Quirós said he thought the contract would be approved without any problem (TT, June 10).

If approved, the addendum will allow the $100 million airport renovation, halted since March 2003, to continue. That month, the comptroller issued a scathing report that raised questions about many of the fees Alterra could charge airport users, particularly those for developing and financing expenses (TT, March 28, 2003).

Alterra officials said the contract's financial equilibrium was in jeopardy if the company was not allowed to charge the fees they said were previously agreed on with the government.

Construction was halted after international banks funding the airport's renovation suspended the final $30 million of Alterra's $120 million loan until the dispute was resolved.