Elio Franci, the head of the Italian Aeneas Consortium building Tripoli International Airport, complained to a media outlet (Adnkronos.com) last Friday that Libya is blocking payments for the construction project.
Franci hoped the presence of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Italian-Libyan Business forum to be held in Tripoli on 29 October would help in resolving the issue.
The Aeneas consortium was awarded the contract for the renovation of Tripoli International Airport in 2017.
It will be recalled that Libya Herald had reported back on 5 September that ‘‘Sources had informed Libya Herald that failure to make prompt payments to Aeneas are the reasons for the delay in implementation’’.
Franci said AENEAS entered the operational phase of the contract in 2023 and that ‘‘before the summer (of 2024) we had completed more than 50 percent of the supplies and installations".
But suddenly "and inexplicably, in a situation that was quite calm after the summer period the Libyan counterpart began to delay the various payments, making non-contractual deductions and inventing loopholes that were not provided for in the contract".
"I have always believed in this project that would give prestige to Italy but above all it should bring Libya out of a geopolitical and economic situation that is not at all stable, because when there is business, the territory is calmer". He said AENEAS "continued to believe in this project, even advancing significant sums, because most European suppliers did not want to work with Libya, if there were no substantial advances and adequate guarantees".
Franci added that "thanks also to the action of ENAC (the Italian Civil Aviation Authority), Italy is the first and only European country to open direct flights between Libya and (mainland) Europe through the Rome-Tripoli route, already covered by a Libyan company (Medsky) and the connection of Ita Airways should also be announced at the forum. It would be a great inconsistency in these circumstances not to allow an Italian company to complete the strategic project of the new international airport of Tripoli".
He said he hoped that the presence of the Italian PM ‘‘at the Italian-Libyan business forum to be held in Tripoli on October 29 will be decisive in overcoming this stalemate and in bringing clarity''.
He said that he had written "dozens of letters" to TPB (the Transportation Projects Board), the company for the management of the project of the Ministry of Transport, "but the problem has not been solved", a problem that has been dragging on for years, also due to "a Libyan company with no experience that would like to take over from our consortium, which boasts work in 40-45 airports around the world’’
Sending a negative message to other potential investors in Libya, Franci warned that if AENEAS’ financial problems were to continue "I would advise all my fellow entrepreneurs to use particular caution in investments (in Libya)."
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