J&P Cyprus wins Jordan airport BOT contract

A joint venture comprising Joannou and Paraskevaides (J&P), the Cyprus-based construction giant with ongoing projects across North Africa, the Middle East, Greece and Cyprus, and other partners has won the 25-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the extension and operation of the new international airport in Amman.

The joint venture includes Aeroport de Paris with 23 other airport operations in its portfolio, as well as the investment houses Edgo Ventures of Jordan, Abu Dhabi Investment and Noor Financial Investment of Kuwait.

Advising the Jordanian government has been the World Bank’s IFC subsidiary.

In all, five companies vied for the BOT contract valued at USD 580 mln. The other bidders were German, Arabic, Malaysian and Portuguese ventures.

The new airport project includes new terminal extensions that will be constructed by J&P, while the terminal buildings have been designed by Norman Foster & Partners who are credited with some of the biggest airports in the world, such as Beijing, Hong Kong and in the U.K.

An announcement issued by J&P in Cyprus said that, “for the Jordan government, this is the biggest project awarded in the kingdom and the government is proceeding with its construction in order promote the country as a financial and tourism destination.”

The announcement added that, “all the comments by the participating ventures and the World Bank were praiseworthy of the transparency and immaculate way with which the competition was held.”

J&P was disqualified from the final process of bidding for the BOT contract to build a new airport in Larnaca and upgrade the airport in Paphos, a decision that was appealed in the Cyprus courts. The project cost has increased to about EUR 600 mln with the government, the operator (Hermes Cyprus Airports) and the tourism industry at odds over rising costs and fees.