Over the next year, new radars are to be installed and computer systems are to be upgraded.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Nicaraguan airspace surveillance will improve from 2012, with the implementation of a program to upgrade the monitoring system used by the Nicaraguan Institute of Civil Aeronautics.
He reiterated that the staff training component is crucial, and must be made a priority in order to raise standards of civil aviation safety in the country."
The project will take one and a half years, and will be financed with resources from the Central American Corporation for Air Navigation Services, an international body that regulates navigation systems in the region.
Mario Altamirano, Air Navigation Director of INAC, told elnuevodiario.com.ni "’we are taking a major step for our country's air navigation and for safety ... We are working on this project that will raise air traffic control and air navigation safety levels.’
In the tender to build a radar approach control center, Sofratesa and Consorcio Indra submitted bids for $9.9 million and $9.7 million respectively.
The two bids were below the reference price of thetender, of $10 million. The company that wins the contract will carry out the study, design, remodeling, supply, installation, testing and delivery of the new radar approach control center.
Embraer announced the sale to the Central American country of 6 Super Tucano fighter planes, plus 3 primary radars and a command control system, at an estimated cost of more than $170 million.
Although the Brazilian company did not disclose the amount paid by Guatemala, estimates made at the beginning of purchase negotiations last summer point to a minimum of $170 million as the amount of the contract, which includes logistical operational support and training for pilots and mechanics.
The control of drug traffic by air in Guatemala is ineffective because of lack of a monitoring system with primary and secondary radars which should also include a multinational information center.
An article in Elperiodico.com.gt reports that "The discovery of a plane with 405 kilos of cocaine in Retalhuleu and the landing of another aircraft that had unloaded a drug shipment, exposed the lack of technology to control drug traffic by air in the country. According to Armando Asturias, Controller of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the control of illegal aircraft requires the installation of at least five radars. "
The Civil Aviation Authority is awaiting approval by Congress, for the purchase of three radars that would cover the whole territory.
The head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), Juan José Carlos, said the radars would be located in Port San Jose (Escuintla), Puerto Barrios (Izabal) and Flores (Petén) and would therefore cover the whole country.
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7567Government Procurement Opportunities in the region