Airport Expansion at 60 Percent

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Tuesday, 19 February 2013 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John's - The VC Bird International Airport expansion project is reportedly progressing smoothly, with 60 percent of the work already completed, according to CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority (ABAA) Stanley Smith.

Smith said at this pace, the project is likely to be completed within the first quarter of 2014, and based on all indications, work should continue unless hindered by some sort of natural disaster.

The CEO explained, “They have just started work on the temporary car park, as well as we are basically doing extra footing for the building. We don’t foresee any hitches, and hopefully there are no major disasters between now and then.”

The US$47million project is funded by the Chinese government and undertaken by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).
Last September, Chairman of the ABAA Patrick Ryan confirmed that the government was actively exploring a further expansion to the mega project.

He confirmed on Monday that this had come to fruition, and was being undertaken, but said the government is still finalising certain aspects of the arrangement.

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“Government has to do some final touches… crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s,” Ryan said. No details of the arrangement were released prior to the reported signing of an agreement between Ryan and the CCECC on September 28, 2012.

Smith meanwhile explained that the expansion involves extending the building by an additional 30 m on either side.

This will require the relocation of the access road to the old terminal building and the road leading from the Goddard Catering Company.

“They have basically started work on the footing on the eastern side, and are preparing to work on the western side,” Smith said, adding that the cost so far was unknown to him. “That is extending the building by an additional 6600 square meters.”

He also noted that to facilitate a “clean expansion” towards the east, Goddard would have to relocate, and the logistics of this are being worked out.

The spot where the catering company would be relocated, according to Smith, would have direct access to the airside of the VC Bird International Airport, with good landside access. This would have to be a completely new building and even if Goddard doesn’t move immediately it would not affect the opening of the terminal building within the time earmarked.

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