Final designs for Dominica’s international airport almost complete, says PM
To ensure the best possible quality for Dominica’s international airport, the government’s team of developers and contractors have been conducting studies and revising the designs of the massive project, and its prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, has announced that the final designs are nearing completion.
“The final designs are nearing completion because you have to keep making changes. So it’s never really final until you complete the airport,” Skerrit said in a press conference Wednesday.
Skerrit has also disclosed that the ship that is carrying the heavy equipment needed to level the earth and make sure the integrity of the airport’s location has left from China and is expected to arrive in February.
“All of the studies for the earth movement have been completed with some variations because of the wetness of the soil,” Skerrit said. “There is more humidity in the soil than we anticipated and so forth.”
A landing site is also being built for easier transport of the equipment.
“The sheer size of the equipment and the narrowness of our roads and our bridges wouldn’t be able to sustain the weight of that equipment, so the equipment has to be delivered on the Woodford Hill side,” Skerrit said.
Along with this, the government has also built additional homes to satisfy the residents, and some 26 families have moved in and were “very happy with the quality of the homes that they have.”
Skerrit went on to share that a number of affected residents have been compensated.
“There are some people we cannot find because they are overseas and in some cases people are deceased, so we have not been able to finalize some of the payments for them, but that will be done as we go along,” the Prime Minister said.
“We’re very grateful for the level of cooperation and collaboration from landowners and property owners in the area,” he added.
In 2021, the government of Dominica signed an agreement with Montreal Management Consultants (MMCE) to officially break ground on the highly-anticipated international airport.
MMC’s developing arm, MMC Development Ltd., is spearheading the ambitious project located on the east coast of the island.
As the government’s longstanding partner in developing housing projects, MMC Development Ltd. has been chosen to lead the fruition of the airport.
“It is MMCE that will enter into a contract with the contractor because the risk and the liabilities are with MMC and not the Treasury of Dominica because we have no sovereign guarantee on this contract,” Skerrit said in a previous press conference.
The Dominica International Airport is fully funded by the Citizenship by Investment programme of the island, and “it is MMC that has to raise the funds” and “utilize the CBI Program to finance the construction of the airport.”