PM Skerrit says US firm to present findings to Cabinet in April on studies to build an international airport

​Government now says a US firm it had engaged to conduct studies for construction of an international airport, will present their findings to Cabinet on 21st April 2017. This announcement was made by PM Roosevelt Skerrit, while addressing students of the North East Comprehensive School, on Thursday 9th March 2017.
 
The Prime Minister first announced that plans were afoot to construct an international airport in May 2014. Government says it has since held discussions with a Chinese team for construction of an international airport at Crompton Point.
 
While the Prime Minister spoke of plans to construct an international airport, he noted that funding for its construction is a major consideration for his government.
 
Meanwhile, St. Kitts & Nevis Opposition Leader Dr Denzil Douglas, was supposed to have been the featured speaker at a DAIC “Chew on It” lunch yesterday, on the topic, “An international airport as a Development Strategy; the St Kitts experience”.
 
For several years, there have been opposing views as to the need for an International Airport as an essential tool for economic development, versus improving current facilities & using regional hubs to facilitate international access.
 
Ideas for building an international airport in Dominica goes back a very long way:
 
1.     According to historian Dr Lennox Honychurch, Dominica’s first premier, Edward Le Blanc, first got the Canadian Government “to finance a study for a proposed jet airport aligned across the centre of the island from Warner to the back of Castle Bruce.
2.     In 1971 and 1972, meteorological studies were carried out 24-7 at a small lab at Brantridge near Pont Case, “but the findings determined that there were too much cloud cover and high rainfall, and that was abandoned.”
3.     In 1989, the Dominica Freedom Party had a plan drawn for an international airport with alignment from Woodfordhill Bay to Wesley near Sophia Bay.
4.     In 1998, the United Workers Party (UWP) also had a plan drawn for an airport with alignment further inland from behind Woodford Hill village near the Woodford Hill Agricultural Station to end behind Wesley at the back of the former St. Andrews High School. Design was by Planning & Stanley Engineers.
5.     In December 2013, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said Chinese engineers were in Dominica to visit the proposed construction site of an international airport, in Compton Point near Calibishie, and to offer advice to government.
6.     At a Dominica Labour Party Rally on May 5, 2014, Skerrit said his government was actively pursuing several projects, including the construction of an international airport through the BOOT – Build, Own, Operate and Transfer – option, with a team of private developers from China.
7.     Later that same month, Prime Minister Skerrit led a three-man delegation to China to “advance discussions on the construction of an international airport and other development projects.”
8.     Upon his return from China, PM Skerrit told reporters that “good progress” was being made on the project and a document will soon be made available to the public about the details.
9.     Following the severe blow to the Douglas Charles Airport by Tropical Storm Erika, Opposition Leader, Lennox Linton said Dominica should focus on securing funds for an international airport.

​Meanwhile, St Kitts & Nevis Opposition Leader Dr Denzil Douglas, told the DAIC yesterday, costs associated with the possible establishment of an international airport in Dominica, are very high compared to that of St. Kitts, and will require “substantial international support”.

​He said the highest level of technical expertise must be relied on, there must be a high calibre analysis to assess the viability of the project, and an economic and financial analysis would be needed, to ensure the island puts in place an infrastructure that is viable and flexible, to respond to changes in technology.
 
Douglas was the featured speaker at the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC) ‘Chew On It’ luncheon on Thursday afternoon, at the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau, where he discussed the topic ‘An International Airport as a Development Strategy – The St. Kitts Experience.”
 
He stated that there would also have to be a concerted national commitment at the highest levels, in order to ensure the success of the project, because unforeseeable contingencies can and will emerge, that could significantly complicate the effort, and make the challenge even greater than it was at the start. He noted that many obstacles have to be overcome, including natural disasters and the global financial crisis, so the highest technical expertise is needed.
 
According to Douglas, there is a need for many conversations on the costs and benefits, and advantages and disadvantages, in undertaking something as massive as the construction of an international airport.
 
He also advised that the international airport must go hand in hand with air lift development “if it is to be a sustainable tool for economic, social and political development as well.”
 
Douglas added, “You would need to attract airlifts, you would need additional hotels, and so the formula, in my opinion, is already being worked out. It is very difficult for a small population to support international airlift, but a small country like Dominica must see airlift and airport as an investment in its own economic expansion, hence, Dominica’s time has come”.