Amman - The Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) has announced the National Aviation Services (NAS) consortium as the preferred candidate for the Air Cargo Terminal Operations tender at King Hussein International Airport (KHIA).
ADC, which is responsible for developing the facilities and services within KHIA, and NAS are currently engaged in negotiations to prepare a contract for the operation of the air cargo terminal, according to a statement released by the corporation.
ADC had launched an international tender in May this year offering a contract to equip and operate the existing air cargo terminal as a common-use independent air cargo terminal at the airport.
The purpose of the tender was to seek qualified private sector companies for the project as the optimal means to realise the opportunities to expand business, particularly through the growth of the Kingdom's economy and the increasing volume of imports and exports; expansion of trade to Iraq; rapidly growing transit traffic between North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf; and just-in-time delivery throughout the region from a secure storage base.
"This tender comes as a critical building block to expand the ASEZ's multi-modal logistical capability to enable Aqaba to provide world-class air cargo services with sea-air and land-air accessibility," ADC Chairman Imad Fakhoury said.
The ADC, which received several proposals from international consortia in response to the tender, adopted internationally set standards in evaluating every proposal on its own merits, based on management qualifications, operations, investment and market development, the statement said.
NAS Managing Director Bara Al Roumi noted that the growth of Aqaba in the past few years is a credit to the efforts of ASEZA and ADC.
"We see the association of NAS and PWC logistics as a further foundation to building business in the region, in the air, on the ground and via sea links," he said.
KHIA is a 24-hour, all weather airport with a single 3000m x 45m runway. The air cargo terminal consists of a 5,000-square-metre warehouse facility completed in 2004 plus apron space able to accommodate eight wide body aircraft. Cold storage and a 1,000 square metre office space are incorporated into the structure.
There is growing interest in using the airport for regional freight delivery and distribution services. Support for the reconstruction of Iraq including sea-air movements has already commenced, the statement said.
© Jordan Times 2005
