1 November 2013
A consortium including Bouygues Construction has been awarded a PPP contract to improve Iqaluit International Airport, in the Arctic North of Canada.
Bouygues Building Canada, a subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, and Sintra, a ColasCanada subsidiary, have signed a public-private partnership that covers the financing, design and construction of a new air terminal, along with operation and maintenance for a period of 34 years.
The firms will be responsible for designing and building the 10,000 sq m terminal and a new combined services building of 4500 sq m, as well as extending and refurbishing approximately 400,000 sq m of runways and parking areas for planes.
The total funding requirement of the project stands at around $287m and the total value of the works to Bouygues Building Canada and Sintra is around $219m.
Bouygues Building Canada and Sintra will build a new air terminal at Iqaluit, pictured (Aaron M Lloyd/Wikimedia Commons)
Work is expected to begin in spring 2014 and handover is planned for December 2017. However, the project schedule is complex due to the difficult climate conditions and the short window, between July and October, in which it is possible to deliver materials when the sea is not frozen.
Olivier-Marie Racine, chairman and CEO of Bouygues Bâtiment International, said: "Bouygues Construction is entering a new stage of its development in North America, with its first airport project on the continent."
The project will increase the capacity of Iqaluit Airport, which is located in Canada’s most expansive territory and plays a strategic role for both civil and military aviation as air travel is the only form of transport that operates throughout the year.
