Following through on another campaign promise before he leaves office in May 2010, President Oscar Arias signed a contract to build a new airport terminal in Liberia, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. The $35 million terminal is expected to serve a daily traffic of 1,500 passengers in a multi-level, 23,000-square-meter facility. “With an increased capacity in tourism…this can be an exit from the economic crisis that grips our country,” said Karla González, minister of public works and transport (MOPT), who signed the contract along with Arias on Wednesday. The project is being placed on an accelerated schedule so that Arias can inaugurate the new building before leaving office. The next five months will be dedicated to the completion of design documents and the following six months to construction. According to the contract, the state will oversee operation and maintenance of the terminal for the first 20 years. MOPT has already invested about ¢3.8 billion, or nearly $6.7 million, in the expansion of the hangar (to include 11 planes, not just four) and a storage unit. Liberia's Daniel Oduber International Airport receives several international flights, including ones from Atlanta, Miami and Houston, among others (as well as multiple domestic flights a day), totalling 454,693 passengers in 2008. |