Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says Aecon has assured the government that the New Kingstown Port is on target for completion by mid-2025.
“I asked Laura Anthony Browne and the local team here to get me all the equipment and the costings. We have had advice and consultancies from a number of different entities for us to set about sourcing all the resources there and for the orders to be made now because we need to have everything in place”.
Gonsalves said laws would have to come to Parliament sometime later this year or next year, where they would separate the management of the port from the regulation of the port.
Gonsalves said while over 1 million cubic yards of sand have been deposited in Kingstown at the port area, the dredge is expected to return.
“The dredge will come back. I’m advised that after they have finished with the piles and steel sheets, which I’ve been assured would last up to 75 years, there are ways in which you repair them”.
“I want to also report that the other $10 million was paid so that that $20 million is inside the development account and the consolidated fund”.
Aecon Group Inc was awarded a US$170 million contract by the Government for the design and build of the Kingstown Port Modernisation Project Works, Lot 1: Primary Cargo Port, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The primary scope of work includes designing and building a cargo port and relocating a sewer outfall line, as well as road upgrades and strengthening within the port catchment area in Kingstown.
Additional scope includes work on the terminal area of approximately 6.5 hectares on seaward reclaimed land, a sheet pile quay wall of 380 metres in length, as well as sheet pile walls of 130 metres in length on both sides of the reclaimed area, a container storage yard, and break-bulk vehicle storage and maintenance areas.
Terminal buildings will include administration and customs, workshops, warehouses, and a container freight station.
The project is being financed by the Caribbean Development Bank, The United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Fund and the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The construction contract will be supervised by Sellhorn Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH (Germany).
