The businessman submitted José ‘Pepe’ Mujica’s Government a project for development of new airports in the interior of the neighbor country such as Colonia, Rocha and Rivera.
Eduardo Eurnekian wants to replicate in Uruguay the same airport terminal operating scheme developed in Argentine through Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, responsible for the concession of 32 air stations since 1998. Although on the other side of the River Plate they have control just over Carrasco Airport –Montevideo-, and Punta del Este, now he is moving forward and aims to expansion of the above business in other cities of the interior such as Colonia, Rocha and Rivera.
This initiative adds to the one submitted to Montevideo’s Mayor for building a motorway to join the city’s central area with Carrasco area and which will need an investment of 170 million dollars in a 36-month period.
Besides, in 2006 he bought San Roque chain of drugstore and perfume shops and throughout the President Election Campaign taking Mujica to the presidency, he was one of the main private supporters of this “Frente Amplio” political party candidate.
This sort of commercial developments and moves make the Armenian origin businessman a well-known person in the border country. In fact, all this shows that he has chosen said market in order to expand the empire he succeeded in building back in Argentina.
In order to manage businesses “on the other side of the Pond” he created Puerta Del Sol company managed by his nephew Martin Eurnekian and responsible for the airport concessions.
Precisely this Company submitted the Government a proposal to be responsible for operating and modernizing Colonia, Rocha and Rivera airport terminals in exchange of a 10- year extension of Punta del Este terminal concession; and to reinforce this proposal, the group reminded that they have just invested 165 million dollars in refurbishment and concession of Carrasco airport with an aim to welcome five million passengers yearly which means doubling current traffic.
Although the three terminals hold an international airport feature, none of the three terminals offers the necessary infrastructure to welcome big size airplane flights coming from other countries of the region. Therefore and in line with Eurnekian’s plan, the Frente Amplio party ruler will submit a bill to Parliament to authorize the participation of private investors in public works or in partnership with the State concessions for the airports of the interior of the country.
The purpose of this initiative aims to have the above terminals operating international flights and Uruguay becoming a passenger distribution center. To reach this, the infrastructure of airports such as Laguna de los Patos (Colonia), and Cerro Chapeau (Rivera) should be upgraded. In the case of the latter, it is located at a strategic point due to its distance from Paraguay and Argentina’s Capital cities as well as from Porto Alegre and the airports of the Argentine littoral region. Currently, this airport operates with aero taxis, and small size airplanes coming from Panamá, Miami and Argentine cities.
A couple of weeks ago, the Uruguay Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mr. Enrique Pintado, made statements to their country press in advance that the above bill will be submitted soon and he also added that they are looking at having a one-package concession of the three airports. Currently, the above airports Eurnekian wishes to add to his business have a low level of activity and do not include flights from the main passenger airlines of the region.
