Murcian government officially rescinds Corvera airport contract

This now paves the way for the process to begin again

The regional government is unable to give any firm dates for either adjudication of the airport contract or a provisional opening date.
The regional government has finally decided to allow the ministry for Public Works and Land Ordinance to go ahead with the rescission of the management contract awarded to Aeromur for the new international airport at Corvera.

Following today’s regional cabinet meeting Antonio Sevilla, the minister in charge of the department, announced that this is a firm decision which “has been made in the interests of the general good”, and with it the government hopes to have set in motion a chain of events which will lead to the airport opening as soon as possible. One of the reasons for rescinding the Aeromur contract is that the government feels that they failed to meet the deadline for having the airport up and running.

The regional government has first checked that it is on safe ground in rescinding the Aeromur contract, having consulted with the Judiciary Council of the Region of Murcia, and will now bring to an end the procedure begun on 20th May this year. The Judiciary Council gave them its backing on this matter, and even raised the possibility of claiming compensation from Aeromur for failing to meet their contractual obligations.

Sr Sevilla took advantage of the press conference after today’s cabinet meeting to again run through some of the government’s grievances against the Sacyr-led consortium, such as the failure to gain all the authorizations needed for the airport to open and the lack of a sufficiently organized administrative structure for its management. In addition, he says, insufficient attention was paid to the development of complementary activities in the surroundings of the new airport and the supplying of airport services. For these reasons, he concludes, the government has no option but to end their contractual agreement with Aeromur.

He left the door open regarding a possible damages claim against the concessionaire, saying that although a preliminary amount of seven million euros has been claimed no definitive evaluation of further possible damages has yet been completed. At the same time, the minister says that today’s decision will be duly communicated to Sacyr, but is unwilling to speculate on any possible appeal by the company, saying that they will soon decide what attitude to take.

The next step will be to put the airport management contract out to tender again, and in the course of these procedures it is “probable” that a decision will be reached before the end of this year: if this is the case, the airport could open in the spring of 2014.

Together with the national Ministry of Fomento the regional government will negotiate the possible closure of San Javier airport with Aena, who run it, and since there has been agreement on this subject with the Ministry since November 2011 it is hard to see how closure can be avoided. What is needed now is a firm agreement by which the closure of the old airport is included in the management contract awarded for the running of the Corvera facility, with the closing of San Javier likely to coincide with the opening of the new airport.

This simultaneous opening and closing of the two airports, according to Sr Sevilla is both possible and inevitable “in aeronautical terms”.
The terms of the new tender will be published as quickly as possible, possibly “in one or two months”, and when the contract has been awarded Sr Sevilla hopes to be more specific on the subject of an opening date for Corvera.

In response to questions regarding the intriguing possibility that Sacyr would again present a proposal in the second tender procedure, the possibility was quickly dismissed by the minister, who says he can’t understand why the company would consider it. After all, in his view they have already failed to deliver once, but on the other hand he recognizes that “the tender will be open to any company which wishes to compete for the contract”.
The regional government’s only aim, he says, is for the airport at Corvera to open as soon as possible, and the best candidate for ensuring that this happens is the one which will be chosen.
 

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Image: José Ballester and Antonio Sevilla during the press conference.