Montenegro hires IFC as advisor on second stage of airport concession tender

"Considering the fact that in the first phase of the tender the IFC has timely met its contractual obligations, including the preparation of the tender documentation, the management of the tender process, and helping in the communication with the bidders and their pre-qualification ranking [...], it has been estimated that the continuation of cooperation with this institution will bring the best results in the shortest period," the government said in a statement after its regular cabinet meeting on Thursday.

In November 2017, Montenegro decided to launch a tender to award a concession to run the two airports, aiming to improve their facilities and expand their capacities. In February 2018, it hired the IFC to help it select a concession model and organise the procedure.

In July 2019, the transport ministry invited interested investors to participate in the first, pre-qualification stage of the airport concession tender. It received seven letters of intent - from a Turkish-Danish consortium Cengiz & Copenhagen Airports; South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corporation; India's GMR Airports Limited; Turkish-French consortium Groupe ADP-TAV Airports; Luxembourg's Corporation America Airports; Turkey's Limak Holding; and a consortium of DDA International-Bouygues Batiment International-Marguerite-TIIC from Ireland, France and Luxembourg.

After reviewing their offers, Montenegro qualified four bidders for the next stage of the tender: Incheon International; GMR Airports; Groupe ADP-TAV Holding; and Corporation America Airports. Later on, GMR withdrew from the competition, while the remaining bidders confirmed their readiness to participate in the next stage of the tender.

In January 2024, transport minister Filip Radulovic said that Montenegro invited three investors interested to submit their offers. News outlet Vijesti quoted prime minister Milojko Spajic as saying they were Aeroports de Paris, Incheon Airports and Corporacion America Airports.

In February, local media quoted Radulovic as saying Montenegro expects the candidates for the airports' concession contract to submit their final offers this summer.

The airports in the Adriatic town of Tivat and in the capital Podgorica served 2.51 million passengers combined in 2023, up from 1.92 million in 2022.

The state-owned operator of the two airports, Aerodromi Crne Gore, has said it expects to post close to 10 million euro ($11 million) net profit in 2023, up from 2.4 million euro in 2022.

($ = 0.921 euro)