St Vincent prepares to open new international airport in 2014

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent,  CMC – Six years after construction work began, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is getting ready to cut the ribbons to declare open its first ever international airport.

The Ralph Gonsalves government is hoping that the EC$700 million (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) international airport at Argyle, will be completed by the end of this year, even as the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) continues to cast doubt on the project, situated on the island’s east coast.

When he delivered his budget statement earlier this month, Prime Minister Gonsalves said that the airport was “on target for completion by the end of 2014”.

At the end of last year, the Taiwanese firm, Overseas Engineering Construction Company, handed over the US$28 million terminal building along with the electrical substation to the International Airport Development Company (IADC), the state company responsible for the construction of the airport.

IADC chief executive officer, Rudy Matthias, believes the airport could be completed as early as July