Prime Minister answers question on Canouan Coastguard Base

The project that will see the establishment of a Coastguard base on the Grenadine island of Canouan has begun, but the actual construction process will begin at a later date.{{more}}

Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, in his response to a question by Dr Godwin Friday, area representative for the Northern Grenadines, on behalf of Terrrance Ollivierre, area representative for the Southern Grenadines, to give a comment on the status of the project, said that although the project start-up date was set for mid-January 2012, this did not mean the actual start of construction.

“Since it is a design and build contract, the project started, but construction will begin later,” the prime minister said.

He further explained that the construction of the proposed Coast Guard base was under the direct control of the United States’ Southern Command Military Division of the US Embassy in Barbados.

Gonsalves went on saying that the US Defense Department awarded the contract on September 27, 2011 to a company and that the government was further advised by the Department of Defense, in a piece of correspondence dated December 29, 2011, that the project start-up date was set for mid-January 2012.

“The work is on,” the Minister of National Security said, adding that the base will be constructed at the Charlestown Bay area, once the designs are completed and signed off. (DD)