The $250 million redevelopment of Bermuda’s airport is “not a done deal”, according to the president of the Canadian construction firm leading the project.

Steve Nackan, from Aecon Concessions, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that though it would cost the island to pull out at this stage, it had the option to do so.

“It’s not a done deal,” he said. “What we have agreed with the government is that this is an iterative development process. Iterative meaning we’re taking it step by step, [to] various milestones.

“There was an initial stage of investigation and due diligence and an ability to sort of call it quits at that stage if we found anything that wasn’t acceptable. And as we go we progress through a series of milestones where it’s possible for the process to end.

“And, of course, if we don’t reach final agreement on all the commercial terms, the project will not proceed, so there are opportunities for both sides along the way to exit if things come up in the deal that are not acceptable.

“I won’t get into the specific numbers but the agreement with Bermuda is that we are taking on the cost of developing the project.

“It’s not insignificant. We’re doing all the investigative studies, reports, traffic studies and so on and design and so on, these are all things that are not wasted if the process terminates. They would be available to Bermuda to proceed with the project, or a version of the project, at some other time.

“And if they decide to walk away they would need to compensate us for having developed the project for their benefit.”

Mr Nackan declined to reveal how much Aecon has spent so far on the redevelopment scheme.

The Bermuda Government struck a deal with the Canadian Commercial Corporation and its subcontractor Aecon in 2014 for them to finance the rebuilding of LF Wade International Airport in return for a contract to run the facility for 30 years and collect any revenue raised.

The agreement has come under fire from critics who say the project should have been tendered but finance minister Bob Richards insists the sole source deal is the best for Bermuda.

Mr Nackan said the idea behind a 2008 master plan drawn up under the previous administration was good, but not economically viable.

“That’s why it’s scaled down from the master plan before; it’s right-sized, I would call it,” he said of the new plan.

“We’ve not cut it down too small. It is the right size for the current and expected passenger demand for the next ten years or more.”

He added: “Public debate is going to happen any time you are building an asset that’s so important, strategically and in the national interest. It’s very common for these kinds of projects to be used as a political football so we expect it, we are used to it and we have to deal with it through a very broad stakeholder engagement exercise.”