Politics
St Vincent prepares to open new international airport in 2014
Six years after construction work began, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is getting ready to cut the ribbons to declare open its first ever international airport.
The Ralph Gonsalves government is hoping that the EC$700 million (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) international airport at Argyle, will be completed by year end, even as the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) continues to cast doubt on the project, situated on the island’s east coast.
When he delivered his budget statement earlier this month, Prime Minister Gonsalves said that the airport was “on target for completion by the end of 2014”.
At the end of last year, the Taiwanese firm, Overseas Engineering Construction Company, handed over the US$28 million terminal building along with the electrical substation to the International Airport Development Company (IADC), the state company responsible for the construction of the airport. IADC chief executive officer, Rudy Matthias, believes the airport could be completed as early as July.
“First and most importantly, I want to tell you that our terminal building is now complete…and we expect that by July 2014 to complete the final pavement works on the runway and the apron. So, in a sense, by July … we are going to have a completed terminal building and a runway and apron having been paved. Essentially, that is our airport,” he said late last month.
Last week, Prime Minister Gonsalves gave Parliament an idea of the scope of work still to be done at the airport. He stated that at the end of last year, 89 per cent of the earthworks had been completed and sea defense works, which began on August 12, 2013, would extend into mid-2014.
Work is being done at the southern end of the runway to enable the installation of the simple approach lighting system and drainage works are scheduled to be completed in June.
