Reuters: Fraport wins Varna, Burgas airport concession contract

Dnevnik Daily, 2006-06-15

     The Bulgarian government has picked Germany's Fraport to run two large airports in the Black Sea tourist hotspots of Varna and Bourgas, a government source familiar with the process told news agency Reuters on Wednesday.
     Earlier, the EU candidate's transport ministry said the cabinet had agreed to award the 35-year concession but would not name the winner until the decision was published in the state gazette later this week or next.
     'It's Fraport,' said the source, who did not wish to be named.
     Eager to remove bottlenecks and modernise the gateways to its booming tourism industry ahead of its planned 2007 EU entry, Bulgaria wants to hand the coastal terminals over to the winner this summer. The government had previously signed a 526-million-euro ($661.6 million) deal allowing Copenhagen Airports (CPH) to operate the terminals last June, said Reuters.
     But a court annulled the contract following appeals from Fraport and a tie-up of France's Vinci Airports and Vinci Concession which had ranked second and third in the tender, respectively.
     The two airports lie 130 km apart on the Black Sea and are the main conduit for tourists travelling to Bulgaria's bourgeoning coastal resorts.
     The outdated terminals handled 2 mln passengers each last year and are expected to benefit further from an expected rise in tourism and EU membership, said the news agency.
     In a bid revealed last year, Fraport offered to invest 176 mln euro in the airports through 2009 and more than 400 mln through the concession's total lifespan.
     It also offered to pay the government a concession fee of 16.8% of total revenues. Fraport said it had yet to hear about the decision.
     'We assume a decision will come soon. We have not heard anything yet,' a spokesman from the company in Germany told Reuters.
     Transport ministry spokeswoman Valia Luleva was quoted by Reuters as saying the cabinet could not announce the name of the concession winner before it was published because that would violate procedure.

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