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| NovaPort Consultant Mr. Gordon Goodwin |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, OCTOBER 26TH 2005 The expansion of the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw International Airport will employ over 200 workers and is critical to the development of the tourism industry in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Chairman of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), Mr. Linkon Maynard told a news conference that the civil works which will be carried out by Surrey Paving and Aggregate Limited, a Caribbean company based in Jamaica.
He said it will employ over 200 local contractors and workmen over the next 12 months. The expansion to be carried out at a cost of US$15,997,543 begins next month.
Mr. Maynard said that the project will see a significant improvement in the quality of the runway and taxiways and in particular a huge expansion of the aircraft parking facilities.
This is an important development in the context of our tourism industry. In terms of its timeliness, we are expected to host World Cup Cricket early in 2007 and this project will begin in three weeks time and by contract is expected to be completed in November 2006, Maynard told the Press.
The Project is being jointly funded by the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank and a loan by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Novaport Consultant, Mr. Gordon Goodwin said the works to be carried out include the resurfacing of the existing runway.
He said that the existing western apron will be extended to accommodate six wide-bodied aircraft at the same time. This is a huge concrete slab that attaches to the existing western apron and projects out into the lands that are now occupied by the St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturing Corporation (SSMC), said Goodwin.
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| One of the designs of the expansion project |
He said that a new taxi way will be constructed parallel alongside the new parking apron, and extend to the west paralleling the runway at the proper separation distances and then turn on to the runway for access for aircraft.
Mr. Goodwin said the modifications to the drainage system of the apron is designed to take away rain and ground water that gets on the runway.
In addition, there are new taxi way lighting, new pave and markings that identify where the aircraft should pull in to park, where they should park and how they should park, said Goodwin, who said that the model aircraft which the new expansion was designed to accommodate is the Boeing 767-300 series. He said the design codes is based on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines.
