PM Gonsalves outlines Argyle international airport expenditure to date

While the total value of works done on the Argyle international airport amounts to $557.49 million, the total expenditure to date, is $379.26 million.{{more}}

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, in response to a question posed in the House of Assembly last Thursday, said the difference in these figures is due to a “substantial in-kind contribution” of approximately $178.23 million.

“The amounts which have been committed so far on expenditure over that number by the IADC (International Airport Development Company) are $43.1 million,” he said.

Gonsalves indicated that the $43.1 million is expected to cover the cost of fire trucks, a baggage handling system and passenger boarding bridges.

Although he noted that the airport can be built without boarding bridges, which cost $5.1 million, Gonsalves highlighted that it would be necessary to have them, particularly because the country gets substantial amounts of rainfall.

“If we are building a modern airport, particularly since…we’re in a country with a lot of rainfall, to facilitate … we know the problem in some places where you come off the plane but we can’t enter the airport,” he said.

The Prime Minister added that more money is expected to be spent on other areas of the international airport, including a control tower, air rescue, firefighting building, cement to complete the pavement works and retrofitting of the terminal building.

“I’ve been advised by the IADC that what remains to be spent, apart from the commitment of those items of expenditure I have outlined, would be in the region of EC$160 million, which is reflective, broadly, of the ballpark I gave to Parliament last year,” he said.

While stating that the value of the airport will be far more than expected because of the in-kind contributions, Gonsalves added that the IADC has noted that the airport is expected to be substantially completed by December 2014.(BK)