The US Navy will begin construction at KEF Airfield
The US Navy will begin work on a major project in the security area of Keflavík Airport this week. The morning paper reports. The work consists of the restoration of hangar 831 and the construction of a facility where aircraft can be washed.
The aim of the project is to improve facilities for NATO cruise aircraft. The contractor, Rizzani de Eccher Ísland ehf., submitted an offer for the work in the amount of 13,750,000 USD (equivalent to 2 billion Icelandic króna today) – which was accepted and signed last year.
This is part of a much larger project being undertaken by the US government at Keflavík Airport – the first there since the naval base was closed in 2006.
According to Ásgeir Erlendsson, the media representative of the Coast Guard, work on part of the project began last year and is progressing well.
The project is two-fold: Part of it is organized by the US Navy and the other part by the US Air Force.
Work for the US Air Force, which includes the first phase of maintenance and renovation of the airport’s aprons and taxiways, began last year, and the contractor for that part is ÍAV. The second phase is still in the tendering process and work on it could start in the second half of the year.
The US Department of Defense is financing the entire project, which is estimated to cost around three billion Icelandic ISK.
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