Dr Matthias responds to New Democratic Party allegations

Dr Rudy Matthias has declared his disgust over allegations he said the Opposition New Democratic Party has been making about him, the IADC and the running of the Argyle International Airport and asked that they “please don’t drag us into your mess;{{more}} we are a professional unit.”

He said that any decision made regarding the construction of the airport has to be approved by the Board of Directors and he alone cannot make any decisions regarding the construction of the airport.

“Every company in St Vincent has a Board of Directors… in fact, I want to tell you that in St Vincent, the IADC has one of the largest board of any company or any authority in St Vincent and the Grenadines… it has a large and distinguished board of directors,” Matthias stated at a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thursday, August 27, where US$ 10,000 was handed over by the US Chapter of Friends of the Argyle International Airport for on-going construction work.

Dr Matthias explained that the allegations that there aren’t any contractors used during the construction of the facilities at Argyle International Airport are “simply not true…and easily refutable.”

He noted that since the start of construction, several companies have been contracted to carry out works at the airport site through contracts which are won by companies after a bidding process.

Dr Matthias told the media that the terminal building and the electrical substation were built by Overseas Engineering and Construction, a Taiwanese Company (OECC) at a cost of EC$28 million and they have been with the IADC since construction began.

They are currently retro- fitting the terminal building to receive the two boarding bridges; installing partitions and desks in the administration offices and doing other small jobs.

The CEO added that the fire station, which was handed over in December 2014, was constructed by INOTEC Inc, a private construction company from Barbados, at a

cost of EC$ 6.6 million, and that company is also building the cargo terminal at a cost of EC $2.9 million.

The control tower base which was also handed over in December 2014, was built by local construction company FRANCO construction, costing EC $2.3 million.

Dr Matthias also told the media that as of June 2015, the IADC had a total of 613 employees, of which 509 are Vincentians and 109 from Cuba.

“When you hear people say somehow there are people coming from Cuba to push wheelbarrows and the kinds of derogatory statements, it’s almost disrespectful to say the least of the person from Cuba who are here helping us to build this airport,” Matthias asserted.

He noted that the IADC has on staff 44 engineers, 36 of whom are Cubans while eight are Vincentians.

Dr Matthias clarified that the other Cubans employed at the airport are generally technicians and operators.

The IADC “does not employ any labourer… from Cuba; everyone whom we hire from Cuba is a professional in his own right and we only hire Cuban employees when we cannot find a Vincentian to do the job.” (CM)