Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 20, 2015 (SKNIS)--The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis still plans to build a second cruise pier for St. Kitts, but will not seek the assistance of a cruise line to do this, said Minister of Tourism Lindsay Grant.
“We are not going the route…of having a cruise line build a pier for us. We are learning from the mistake of others,” Mr. Grant said in responding to a caller on the government’s weekly radio show “Working for You.”
“We don’t want Royal Caribbean to come and say they are building any pier for us because if Royal Caribbean comes and builds a pier, they’re going to want a preference over Carnival (Cruises) or Norwegian (Cruise Lines) and that creates its own challenge. We don’t want that. If we can’t build a pier on our own, we don’t want that. If we can’t build the pier on our own, we’re not having it done,” Mr. Grant said.
However, he disclosed that plans are afoot to have the second pier built. The plans are in advanced stages, but the Government is awaiting a final proposal before going to tender. Plans were in the works by the previous administration to have a second pier built at Port Zante to accommodate more cruise ships to St. Kitts. The company that was pursued for this project was Jay Cashman Inc., a firm out of Boston, but the new Team Unity Government had indicated when it took office, that the government would pursue a different arrangement to build this new pier. The tourism minister highlighted the importance of getting this new pier completed as commitments have already been given to cruise lines and they have begun positioning ships to serve this new pier for the 2017 season. He expects construction on the new pier to begin in January of 2016.
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