It seeks to provide an airport connection to the Eastern zone of El Salvador. The airport would generate about 4,700 jobs in the first year and it will be built in stages.
The Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA) assured that it has already received the environmental permits for the construction of the Pacific Airport. Meanwhile, they are advancing with the design of the new terminal in the eastern part of the country. The new station is part of the Bitcoin City project, which will be developed in El Salvador.
The site will become the most ambitious regional development undertaken by that country. It will be a new urbanism with an environmental conscience due to the fact that Bitcoin City generates its own energy from the volcano located on the perimeter.
The president of the institution, Federico Anliker, indicated that the aeronautical technical part and international permits for the establishment of the terminal are being analyzed:
“We are talking with airlines so that they are our clients, and they can operate, and the important thing is that we are walking and going in the right direction. The airport will be located in the Loma Larga canton, in the municipality of La Unión, and will be built in phases. During the pandemic, pre-feasibility, feasibility, geotechnical and resettlement studies were carried out.”
The construction is part of the group of emblematic projects of the Nayib Bukele administration that he even promised during the electoral campaign. The expectation is that the airport station mobilizes one million passengers and that it connects with Bitcoin City. However, a group of landowners from the Condadillo and Flor de Mangle hamlets, La Unión, stated that they did not agree with the project.
After a quarter of these expressions, Anliker assured that some 52 families, who live in the area designated to build the project, are “extremely happy” because they have been given “a much more dignified option” to live.
The CEPA website details that the Government of El Salvador seeks to turn the eastern zone into a pole of economic development, encourage the growing demand for passengers abroad, develop international tourism, as well as to activate the Port of La Unión.
Where the Money Comes from
In June 2022, the Legislative Assembly gave the green light to the reform of the 2022 Budget Law. It was to add 12 million dollars to the Public Works and Transportation branch so that the first phase of the airport could be executed. There are 6.3 million that the Ministry of Finance requested from the Legislative Branch, to allocate the amount to previous construction expenses.
The PEYCO-ALBEN 4,000 consortium delivered the studies carried out for the construction of the airport in the eastern part of the country.
Among the most outstanding positive impacts of the report is the improvement of living conditions, development of tourism in the area, connectivity, and job creation, among others. It was also revealed that the airport will generate about 4,700 jobs in the first year, and 50,000 jobs in 10 years.
By Audy Castaneda
