MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay: International airport at Melo inaugurated

“The far northeast of the country is no longer so far away,” Lacalle stressed

Just a few days after the first domestic flight within Uruguay operated by Paraguayan carrier Paranair between Montevideo and Salto, President Luis Lacalle Pou Monday inaugurated the new international airport at the city of Melo, which showed the Multicolor coalition's commitment to developing and strengthening the country's air connectivity. The terminal's remodeling was part of the operations of the National System of International Airports and had a cost of US$ 12 million.

“It is due to the sum of people from the departmental and national government and the company, who put their will, their capacity to dream and to think ahead, that today we are inaugurating this airport,” Lacalle Pou said during the ceremony.

“The far northeast of the country is no longer so far away because it continues to become a place of attraction,” the president went on. ”Far from the border being a demerit, it is beginning to generate a pole of attraction with the neighboring country (Brazil),“ the president also pointed out while highlighting the importance of increasing export operations from duty-free zones representing a substantial change in the business matrix because it generated investment opportunities in Cerro Largo.

Lacalle also spoke about ”virtuous relations“ and trust that allowed the sealing of agreements between the national government and Corporación América Airports, operators of the airport terminal leading to long-term investments. ”There is an effervescence as there has not been for a long time in Cerro Largo,“ Lacalle Pou also noted with the airport as well as the projected bridge over the Yaguarón River in mind.

The head of state also addressed the dredging of the San Gonzalo channel, which connects the Merín and Los Patos lagoons and will allow the development of two port terminals, one on the Cebollatí River and the other at the mouth of the Tacuarí River, in the Merín lagoon, he added.

”Cerro Largo will no longer have to look west or south to export its goods,” insisted Lacalle with all these works are game changers.

The airport's remodeling involved upgrading the passenger terminal to international standards of operational safety and service, in addition to resurfacing the main runway, plus a new taxiway and apron. A road and perimeter fence were also built, and visual aid systems, LED runway lighting, and LED apron lighting were installed.

A fully equipped fire station and a detachment for the National Air Police were also built, new communications equipment and a fiber optic perimeter ring were installed, and a fuel plant and weather station were created.

Melo is the fourth air terminal to be modernized by Corporación América Airports, which is part of the development of the National System of International Airports. This initiative began in Carmelo, in December 2022, then reached Rivera, where the first binational terminal in Latin America and second in the world was established, and in Salto, which was opened in February this year and is expected to continue in Paysandú and Durazno, where works are already in progress.