Venezuela annuls Santiago Mariño management contract

Gavin Lipsith

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A consortium including Swiss airport authority Unique has been ousted from a 20-year contract to develop the airport on Margarita island

The Venezuelan government has revoked Swiss-Chilean consortium Unique IDC's contract to develop Santiago Mariño airport. The consortium, which signed a 20-year contract to prepare the airport for international operations in April last year, told local press that the government's decision was "aribitrary and illegal".

Morel Rodriguez, governor of Venezuelan province Nueva Esparta, annulled the contract earlier this week and appointed a "transitory commission", headed by regional planning director Henry Millán, to manage the airport. Santiago Mariño is located on Margarita island and currently only receives charter traffic. The consortium, comprising Gestión de Ingeniería IDC—operator of three Chilean airports—and Unique Zürich, planned to spend $34m upgrading the facility.

"The taking of Santiago Mariño airport is arbitrary because it did not follow an established legal process," said a consortium spokesperson. "At no point was I notified as legal representative of the company, neither were any Unique IDC directors."

On announcing the annulment of the concession, Millán said: "The airport now belongs to all." Venezuela's national assembly previously denounced the concession as being against state interests, and the move is part of a process of nationalisation that has brought the country's government, headed by president Hugo Chavez, into conflict with multinational companies and the US administration.