Visiting UAE delegation impressed with AIA progress

Members of the visiting mission from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) say that they were impressed with what they saw at the Argyle International Airport.

Two members of the six-person delegation toured the facility on Wednesday this week, along with Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, other government officials, staff of the International Airport Development Corporation (IADC), and the local media, during which they were given {{more}}first-hand information on the status and operations of the project.

Speaking on behalf of the men, who left the site following a brief meeting with Gonsalves, the Prime Minister stated that the men were in awe of the development of the area.

“The head of the delegation told me in the presence of Rudy Matthias, ‘this airport is itself a tourist attraction’. He said ‘I can stay here and watch this airport for a long time. The sea, the hills, the runway, the terminal building,’ he said, ‘this is beyond my expectation,’ and this what reasonable and right-thinking people would say.

“They couldn’t believe that here there were four mountains, four valleys, mountains we had to take down; valleys we had to fill. 134 middle income houses, we had to cause them to be demolished and built elsewhere; span a river and a stream; move a church and a cemetery; and something which took far longer than anybody anticipated, the removal of the petroglyphs — it took us two and a half years….”

The Prime Minister, who described the airport as “beauty” and “a magnificent place,” said that the facility was “on the threshold of opening”.

When asked if a new date would be given for the anticipated opening, he said no date would be issued, but the wait is not going to be long.

“Garth Saunders, he is the chairman of the new management company… he had advised me not to give a specific date, but knowing the work that have been doing and having the discussions with those who have been involved, I would say that we would open up the airport not too long from now.”

Gonsalves made a similar statement regarding the airline(s) that are to fly to the airport when it is completed and opened.

“The advice I had received is that we have a date when the airline is going to make their inaugural flight. I have been assured by persons in management that we will be ready, but I will let the airlines announce their work that they are doing when they are ready, and we are working with other airlines also.

“The airlines say ‘don’t announce anything for us’. Don’t talk about our names, because they don’t want the competition to know what they are doing until they announce.”

The UAE members, who left the state yesterday, met with a number of government officials, including the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economic Planning, Education, Transport and Works, as well as heads of a number of corporations and institutions.

The Prime Minister noted that the Government was in the process of building a strategic, political and diplomatic relationship with the UAE.(JJ)