New township planned for Tocumen International airport

(newsroompanama.com) Tocumen International airport which will handle  an estimated 8 million passengers a year by 2015, is about to sprout a new “market town” complementing the airport infrastructure now being built.

Juan Carlos Pino, manager of Tocumen SA, said the airport authority will design the master plan project, but the building of facilities will be left to the private sector on leased out lots
The new town will include hotels, convention centers and stores. The project will be on the grounds that the authority bought from the University of Panama, for $109 million in June
The development will complement the construction of the North Pier and the future construction of the South Pier.

The project will need an investment of nearly $ 400 million. Pino expects the final concept to be in place by the start of 2011.
In 2005, the airport handled 2.7 million passengers, and by last year, this had mushroomed to 4.8 million.

For 2011, the terminal will have a budget of $ 152 million, a $ 4 million increase over 2010. Of this total, about $ 71.4 million will be investments and $ 80.5 million designated for terminal operations.

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Original Source: http://www.newsroompanama.com/business/1573-new-township-planned-for-tocumen-international-airport.html
Date Retrieved: August 19, 2010