Airport Development Project On Target
The construction phase of the Airport Development Project continues on Beef Island, where work to erect a new terminal building and the landside infrastructure began in January and March of this year respectively. The formal agreement for Package 1, the main terminal and cargo buildings, was signed December 6th, 1999 and was awarded to Norde France Enterprises Internationales of France.
On 17th January 2000, government signed another contract with J. McArdle Contracts Ltd. of the United Kingdom for Package 2, the landside infrastructure, which covers the roads, car parks and utility services. Both contracts are to be completed in July 2001. The earliest estimated completion date for the runway extension will be November 2001. In February 2002, the apron is scheduled to be completed. Chief Minister and Minister of Finance the Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal recognized the efforts of the local contractors Sandwise Heavy Equipment Ltd., James Frett & Associates Construction Ltd. and Meridian Construction Company Ltd. He said individually, they have made and will continue to make significant contributions to the project.
Meantime, discussions continue on several environmental issues, including control of silt run-off from the site, filtering run-off and oil intervention provisions. The lignum vitae tree has been relocated from the terminal building site and provision has been made to relocate others from the Conch Shell Point region. "Setting up of the provisions for monitoring of the dredging operation is with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, who have already made some baseline observations," Hon. O'Neal stated. He said an Airport Environment Management Committee has been established to monitor the effectiveness of environmental control measures included in the construction contracts.
The Chief Minister told reporters Monday during a press conference, that the tender evaluation sub-committee is still evaluating bids for the runway extension and the airport management study. Tender documents for Package 2, baggage-handling system, were issued during the period May 15th-June 2nd, 2000 and are due on June 27th. "Finally, I would like to remind everyone that the public information display of the project is now located at the existing terminal building at Beef Island. I encourage residents to visit the airport and to look at the display to learn more about the biggest project ever undertaken by the government," he concluded.
Airport Project Manager Stuart Logan confirmed that the airport development project is proceeding "very satisfactorily". He said one of the first two contracts that were awarded is ahead of schedule and the other is on target. "The materials are coming in, the local contractors are working well and certainly, we're well on target to commission the terminal building in July/August next year." A trip to Beef Island Airport, one will see the remarkable changes to the right of the terminal building approach road. "You can now see the foundations of the terminal building perhaps now 50% complete. At the end of July and early August...Meridian Construction...will be starting to erect the steel frames of the building, then you will see something really to see," Mr. Logan stated. He said a lot of the ongoing work is being done by the infrastructure contractor and is below the ground and cannot be seen. This includes the water mains, the services for the telephone systems and for the first time, Cable TV on Beef Island.
A Project Management Office was recently set up for this project and the public can now expect more regular presentations on the progress of the works, probably on a two-month basis. The Project Manager said they also intend to change the display in the terminal building and display some of the progress photographs.