Palmerola International Airport, S.A. de C.V., the concessionaire of Palmerola International Airport, has submitted an arbitration requests against Honduras before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). In addition to Honduras Próspera, JLL Capital, Autopistas del Atlántico, Scatec ASA, Norfund and KLP Norfund, Juan Carlos and Ernesto Arguello, and Inversiones and Desarrollos Energéticos, this is the eighth arbitration claim brought before ICSID. Translation provided by JIGGSLAW®.
The ICSID General Scretary filed the arbitration on September 12, 2023. The claimant alleges a breach of contract, and the case will be administered under the ICSID Convention Arbitration Rules.
Palmerola International Airport notified Honduras of its intention to initiate an arbitration months ago due to the breaches that were preventing the airport from operating at 100%. It alleged the failure to delivery 80% of the work.
During the first week of July, Mauricio Ramos, The Minister of the Secretary of Transportation and Infrastructure, stated that they will no longer endorse the airport’s concession due to irregularities and fraud (see “Gobierno denuncia irregularidades en concesión de Palmerola“, Julio Cruz, La Prensa, 04.07.2023).
On the same dates, Palmerola’s administrators express confidence in reaching an agreement with the government, but they also issued a warning that, should this prove impossible, they will resort to international arbitration (see“‘Esperamos llegar a un arreglo directo con el gobierno, sino recurriremos a un arbitraje internacional’, advierte PIA“, M. Torres, HCH, 05.07.2023).
Interjuris in Tegucigalpa and Clifford Chance in Washington are representing Palmerola in this arbitration.
