Enfidha Airport, Tunisia

Tunisia is a country which has promoted its assets well. It has developed facilities for tourism and is now one of the premier destinations in Africa for holidaying Europeans with year round sunshine, excellent hotels and beaches, fine golf courses and first-class service.

The country contains a large proportion of the Sahara Desert but even this is an asset to tourism.

Tunisia may be reached by travelling to one of six international airports around the country: Tunis-Carthage (8km from the capital Tunis), Jerba–Zarzis Airport, Monastir H. Bourguiba Airport, Sfax–Thyna Airport, Tozeur–Nefta Airport or 7 Novembre–Tabarka Airport. All of these airports are fairly small with limited facilities for the sophisticated air traveller.

In 2004 the Tunisian government decided that a new airport should be built on a 6,500ha site at Enfidha – a state-of-the-art international airport complex with first-class shopping, restaurants, entertainment facilities and service for the airlines and passengers. More importantly the airport was to be situated at Enfidha, to the north east of the country about 80km south of the capital Tunis but in the middle of a major tourist region.

The planning and design had almost been completed but unfortunately due to a combination of circumstances, including a breakdown in negotiations over the terms of building the airport, problems in raising the funding and political manoeuvring the airport was never built and the project was shelved.

ENFIDHA AIRPORT PROJECT REVIVED

During 2005–2006 the project was revived by the Tunisian government eager to complete the new airport under a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis with a 40-year concession and it will now definitely go ahead. Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali is keen to get the project underway as he would like it near completion before he seeks a fifth term in office in the 2009 elections.

The Tunisian government has accepted that the new airport will not be as luxurious as originally envisaged. Demands for a costly state-of-the-art facility were seen as a discouragement to potential bidders, since the airport will serve mainly tourist charter flights. A consortium led by Rothschild is advising the Tunisian government on financing the new airport.

The new airport will now help to ease the passenger and goods traffic which passes through the Tunis-Carthage airport. It will be conveniently located in an area to serve the tourist regions of Yasmine Hammamet and Port Kantaoui (near Hergla), Nabeul and Sousse as well as the towns of Tunis, Sfax, Bizerte and Kairouan.

PROJECT, BIDS AND CONTRACTS

Aéroports de Paris (ADP) completed the design of the new international airport at Enfidha in the final quarter of 2001 (contract worth $9.6m) and also prepared the tender documents for the contracts relating to the construction in mid-2006. The construction plans call for building the airport in several phases; the first phase of the airport will have a passenger handling capacity of five million a year. However subsequent phases are expected to increase the capacity to ten million and then 30 million in the longer-term.

The Tunisian Government (Ministry of Communications Technologies and Transport) and the Tunisian Airport Authority (OACA) has approved the design brief for the project produced by ADP and pre-qualification candidates are expected to respect this in their basic offer. However, they can also propose a variation that would improve the quality of service to passengers and the overall operational and economic profitability of the project.

The deal offered by the Tunisian Airport Authority will now also include the existing airport at Monastir, 60km from the proposed Enfidha facility. Its inclusion is important to give the selected operator a revenue stream during construction and to remove the issue of competition between the two airports.

The six pre-qualifiers for the BTO contract are: Tepe AkfenVentures (TAV) of Turkey; Aéroports de Paris and Vinci of France; Hochtief, SNC Lavalin and Aéroport de Nice; Airports Company South Africa; Aeropuertos & Servicios Auxiliares with Immobilliaria Furnisa of Mexico; Corporación América Sudaméricana of Argentina.

The first three are viewed as the front-runners for the project but the Hochtief / SNC Lavalin / Aéroport de Nice joint venture is expected to win the tender for the construction and management concession of the new Enfidha Airport. Hochtief have used ARC (Airport Retail Consultants) to assist in developing forecasts of retail revenue, space requirements and potential rental income for their BOT bid for the new airport.

ENFIDHA AIRPORT DESIGN AND PURPOSE

The principal architectural theme for this airport is to be modern. The airport is set to be a symbol of the country and must reflect the image of modern Tunisia.

The design of the terminal was conceived in the form of square diamond, the point of which is directed towards the landing strips. The terminal building will be covered with a light roof in a futuristic design in the form of giant wings. The impression of the traveller is expected to be 'it is not the plane which takes off but the whole of the airport!'

The external façade will show a clear division between the lower level and that of the upper levels of the building. The use of clever glazing in the building will allow light to permeate the whole of the interior space. A large patio will be established in the centre of the building and different gardens will be established between the runway area and the departure lounges to give the passengers chance to relax. The interior design will be a subtle mixture of traditional and modern styles.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction work for the new €384m Enfidha Airport will begin in the second half of 2007. Wassim Ben Mahmoud is the architect for the project. Technical studies for the proposed new airport have been carried out by the engineering company SCET Tunisie and the engineering consultancy STUDI Group. A draft of the tender has already been passed to banking group Rothschild and to the Tunisian government.

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