Opposition accused of hysteria over Kingstown Port project

Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves has descried as “hysteria”, recent comments by the New Democratic Party (NDP) on the “declutching” issue which arose at the US$170 million Kingstown Port Modernisation Project early last month.

Speaking on radio on March, 5, 2025, Gonsalves explained then that there was a loss of reclamation material which occurred due to the declutching of the sheet piles at the port project.

Explaining the problem, the Prime Minister said that during dredging to achieve the design depth in front of the quay wall, it was discovered that material reclaimed from the sea at Argyle, was lost and the issue would be dealt with by implementing a standard engineering solution.

“I understand that the opposition has moved out on the basis of, again, hysteria … the same hysteria which they had about when we were constructing the Argyle International Airport…” Gonsalves said at a press briefing at Cabinet Room yesterday, April 7, 2025.

He said members of the NDP, namely parliamentary representative for West Kingstown, Daniel Cummings, and former NDP politician and engineer Glenford Stewart, made remarks about the port issue at a press conference on April 2, 2025, and these remarks have nothing to do with the facts as it relates to what is taking place.

The Prime Minister said when he heard the remarks being made by the NDP, he sought to have the issues cleared up Lenski Douglas, an engineer at the Project Implementation Management Unit of the Port Modernization Project.

“I did not just want to repeat what I had said earlier (March 5), which in summary is what I’m going to say here again, but now with details … Gonsalves said, before reading from a detailed report submitted by Douglas.

“In general, the statements made at the press conference (April 2) were not based on any data. Assumptions were flawed, and predictions outlandish; somewhat unbecoming of engineering professional standards,” Douglas said in the report which was read by the Prime Minister.

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