Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 27, 2016 (SKNIS): During the prime minister’s monthly press conference on Wednesday (October 26), the Honourable Lindsay Grant, Minister of Tourism said that although the issue of the second pier has been around for some time, the Team Unity Government has been diligent and extremely careful.
The Government has announced that it will build a second cruise pier at Port Zante to accommodate two more mega ships to meet the demands of a thriving cruise tourism sector.
“We are careful because it involves about $100 million of the people’s money and so if $100 million of the people’s money is involved we are going to make sure that we dot the I’s and we cross the T’s and ensure that whatever we do on that product and that project, will be well done at the end of the day. And so, we have been careful. We are almost ready I would say to bring the official position to the general public.”
Minister Grant noted that although the Cabinet has deliberated on the construction of the second cruise pier, it has moved it into the realm of an independent institution. He said that this was done in order to analyze the bids that were received “to make sure that the independent persons that will bring to bear their various expertise are in keeping and in line with what the Cabinet considers is in the best interest of the people of the Federation.”
“And so we are mindful of the time that have been spent on it but we are also mindful that it is a long term project, one that will enure [serve as] the benefit of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis for years to come,” he said. “And so we have to make sure that whatever is done is done in the best of interest of the people. It is still a project that the Cabinet is fully engaged on and we will bring to the people very shortly.
In 2015, Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), a Canadian official contracting agency based in Ontario, partnered with the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis to build a second cruise pier Minister Grant said that construction on the new pier is expected to commence in 2017.
