The Paraguayan government has launched a prefeasibility study to build a new terminal at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU) which serves the capital, Asuncion.

 

Deputy Transport Minister, Agustín Encina has announced that he is moving ahead with the project supported by the National Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (Dinac). The new terminal, if approved, will be built on grounds adjacent to the existing airport which sits on a 500 hectares site.

 

A prefeasibility study will be funded with €200,000 ($257,000) from the European Union and will last for 60 days. Then in December the government expects to initiate a call for tender for the works which should start in March next year.

 

Encina, says that he wants to turn the airports “into an icon not only of the country but in the region”.

 

The EU’s representative, Alessandro Palmero, says it is very important that Paraguay modernises its airport, because the quality of infrastructure is crucial to the development of the country, its market competitiveness and regional integration.

 

The terminal contract will be awarded for 30 years and the initial investment will be around $148m. It is estimated that the total investment in three decades of operation of the terminal will be $180m.

 

ASU, which is a hub for TAM Airlines, is under-developed and processed less than one million passengers in 2013. The current terminal building is split into two international concourses. The north concourse has just two gates, and the south concourse has four.