BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, August 3, 2018 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Former Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ambassador Michael Powell, on Friday, August 3, expressed his immense pleasure in being able to personally witness firsthand the construction of a second cruise pier in Basseterre, St. Kitts.
Ambassador Powell was among the invited guests during a media tour of the second cruise pier construction site. Also present during that tour was Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris; Minister of Public Infrastructure, the Honourable Ian Patches Liburd; representatives of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority, as well as officials representing the various contractors and subcontracting firms.
Ambassador Powell, who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism in the Dr. Kennedy Simmonds Administration, said one of his visions then for the development of the tourism sector in St. Kitts and Nevis was the construction of three cruise piers in Basseterre.
“What I suggested at the time is that I would like to see the six largest cruise ships in the world tied up here in Basseterre at the same time,” Ambassador Powell told representatives of the local media corps.
Powell, who now serves as Special Envoy in the Office of the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, noted that, “We had hoped that in the 20 years of the former administration we would have had the second pier built and by now we would have been building the third pier. This is what I was hoping would have been happening. So I am extremely happy that the Lord has granted me long life to see the visions that I had 30 something years ago now coming to fruition.”
Prime Minister Harris did not rule out the possibility of a third cruise pier being constructed in St. Kitts at a future date, noting that there has been private sector interest in having a cruise facility built on the western end of the island.
Dr. Harris said, “Once this [second cruise pier] has been delivered, because this has been in the pipeline for a very long time and this one certainly has gone through more vigorous analysis, once this would have been done we would then do further analysis as to what would be the next phase, and so certainly Ambassador Powell, once God blesses him with longer life, might yet be able to have the realization of a third cruise pier and he would be happy to know that it would be delivered by a Team Unity Administration.”
Construction on the second cruise pier is now into its second phase which involves piling work. That work is being carried out by American Bridge Company, a civil engineering firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large civil engineering projects.
