CIAA invites bids for ORIA baggage area
(CNS Business): It’s been more than three months since the plans to upgrade and expand Owen Roberts International Airport were revealed, and now the Cayman Islands Airport Authority (CIAA) is taking bids from construction firms as to who will be in charge of creating the first phase of the major redevelopment project.
CIAA officials requested proposals this week for the construction of a two-storey baggage area. The 29,000 square-foot steel framed structure will be used to hold, sort and screen luggage that comes through the airport.
Airport officials reassured that the construction of Phase 1 will not impact daily operations at ORIA. The work on the new building will take place on the west side of the airport, which is separate from the main terminal travelers use.
Interior concept design of the expanded Check in Hall at ORIA
Once Phase 1 is completed, it would allow the current out-going baggage area to be developed as an expansion of the departure lounge.
CIAA CEO Albert Anderson said, “This is a very exciting time for the Airports Authority. After Phase 1 commences on site we will put our Requests for Pre-qualification followed by an Invitation to Tender for construction on Phase 2, which will begin with the expansion of the existing departure lounge.”
The multi-million dollar expansion project will take around three years to complete and will nearly triple the current space at the airport.
In May officials with RS&H Group, a Florida based architectural firm behind the design, released interior images as to what residents and visitors can expect on the inside when the project is complete.
Today ORIA stands at about 77 thousand square feet. The new layout will be 208 thousand square feet, almost three times the size it is now.
Contractors have until noon on Friday, 24 July to submit their bids on the project.
Construction is set to take flight on ORIA by the end of August. CIAA officials said they hope to welcome visitors to the Cayman Islands with a completed new design by 2018.
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