Basel Aero spruiks new Sochi airport terminal as VEB lines up
The grand opening of the new terminal complex at Sochi Airport got the ball rolling for the Sochi International Investment Forum, with Vnesheconombank looking to boost investment in the region.
The grand opening of the new terminal complex at Sochi Airport got the ball rolling for the Sochi International Investment Forum, with Vnesheconombank looking to boost investment in the region.
The Launch of the new terminal complex is a major step in the preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.
With a construction cost of $200 million The International Sochi Airport represents just a fraction of the wider work going on for the Olympics, under the aegis of Basel Aero, part of Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element Group. General Director of Basel Aero Sergey Likharov, says the airport provides an affordable service with no delays and administrative advantages, adding that rejuvenating the airport was a straightforward project.
“First of all we didn’t construct the building itself, which means we didn’t need to move the concrete and the cement and all other heavy materials so we were not effectively using roads to much. Concerning the equipment, we, fortunately, delivered most of it before this active construction faze started around us, so we didn’t expect this many difficulties but other sides would be experiencing some problems.”
Likharov have outlined a number of near future improvements in the airport to meet the demands of the Olympic Games guests.
"Our next step will be accomplishment of the landing gallery with 10 loading bridges. And we also flagged for 2012 a capacity expansion up to 3.8 thousand passengers per hour, which will provide faster service delivery for the guests and sportspeople coming to the Olympic Games.”
Anatoly Ballo, deputy chairman of Vnesheconombank, added that the Russian development bank plans to invest heavily into the Krasnodar region.
“The Russian Government provided us with a big capital injection of more than $2 billion, and we have the criteria where we can finance those projects where private investors finance up to 30% of the total project cost, while we can finance up to 70% of the project amount. And at the moment we’ve already allocated up to 15 billion roubles, it’s roughly a half billion U. S. Dollars to those projects.”