Dominica’s local media, officials visits airport project
In the name of transparency, Dominica’s prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit treated the island’s local media to a site visit at the massive airport project slated to open Dominica to the world.
“I was happy to engage the members of the local media during the tour of the international airport construction site in Wesley last week,” Skerrit wrote in his Facebook post Monday.
Members of Cabinet and Parliament and members of the Board of Directors of the International Airport Development Company attended the site visit, along with the officials of Montreal Management Consultants, Est. (MMCE) and the contracting firm, China Railway No.5 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CR5).
MMCE’s developing arm MMC Development, Ltd. signed an agreement with Dominica in 2021 to begin the construction of the highly-anticipated international airport.
The Dubai-based company has helped Dominica rebuild itself after being hit by severe storms and hurricanes in the last years, constructing more than 2,000 houses for residents, and more infrastructure in education, healthcare, and transportation.
CR5 won the EC $1 billion-plus contract for the Dominica International Airport project in a bid last year, and is now in charge of undertaking the design, construction, supply, completion, testing, and commissioning of the international airport.
Skerrit also brought the tour to the Joe Burton Housing Development where “31 houses for homeowners affected by the construction of the international airport” were constructed.
“The development includes the construction of 1,100M of roads, drains and sidewalks; installation of underground connections for utilities; provision of water connection to buildings; and the construction of a 500,000-gallon water tank to serve Joe Burton and the greater Wesley community,” he said.
Skerrit also showed a new laboratory for quality control and quality assurance tests for the airport’s integrity, including soils, concrete and asphalt testing.
“We also made a stop at the site for the Batching Plant where allocation has been made for offices, storerooms, washrooms/toilets, workshops, warehouses, dormitories, aggregate stockpiling area, reinforcement yard, concrete silos, bitumen production area and parking area,” he said, adding that his government will make sure to keep the public fully informed of all the developments of the airport project.