Rymer confirms airport expansion plans to a 7000-foot runway
Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer has given official confirmation that the runway at Terrance B Lettsome International Airport will be expanded to 7,000 feet, following a review of the project’s business case.
Speaking at a recent press briefing, Rymer stated that the administration had received the business case for the expansion and that the Cabinet had endorsed the recommended runway length. He explained that consultants completed the required Green Book-standard business case and submitted it for the government’s consideration.
“[For the] airport expansion, we received the business case. KPMG, they did the business, the Green Book business case, as mandated by the UK. Their recommendation based on their findings is that we go to 7,000 feet.” He added that “Cabinet actually endorsed their recommendation” and forwarded the outline business case to the United Kingdom for review.
He noted that the proposal is now part of discussions between the Virgin Islands and the UK as part of ongoing talks about borrowing limits and the Protocols for Effective Financial Management.
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said during the same press briefing that the government has asked the UK to treat the airport project as an investment rather than debt. He stated that the current protocols limit the territory’s ability to fund major projects and that the administration would continue discussions with UK ministers later this month.
According to earlier government statements, the airport project aims to improve international access to the territory and increase capacity for longer-range aircraft. The project has been under review for more than a year, with the government previously announcing that the business case would be evaluated by mid-2025.
At the press conference, Rymer stated that work is continuing through a steering group, and the timeline for the public release of the business case will be announced once the review process is complete. “We’re working through it with the steering group… and I could give you a better update as to when that will be released,” he explained.
The minister offered no construction timetable or cost estimate during the briefing. The outline business case is expected to guide the next steps, including an expression of interest and procurement stages, once the UK review is complete.
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Kye is the biggest failure we had as minister of works. His performance has been terrible!
he is right on this though and will be remembered for bringing a boom to BVI tourism
The best thing the Government to do is lease the airport.
This won’t happen under the VIP administration. They don’t know how to get projects started and when they do they fumble. So many things this Gov has promised and not one could start.Those that started are over budget and have taken much longer than the projected date of completion. Example , sea cows and Hodges creek raod works. The administration building among others. Just all talk .. NEXT!
Don’t forget….
DDM building (largest contract signed by VIP from A Fahie days before arrest), the road in front governors’ house (somebody need sending on leave for that).
Does Eslyn Henley school count?
Fix the regular roads then speak about the airport.
You campaign on so many things and accomplished nothing.
The man can’t fill two potholes and he want to take on a multi -million dollar project?
@smh The roads are multi-million dollar projects. The airport project would be closer to a billion before it’s finished. Fix up the existing airport with better arrivals, security area, visitor services, etc.
JUST SAY NO!
QUICK POLE, WHO THINKS BVI SHOULD SPEND 400MILLION TO EXPAND THE AIRPORT.
WHO THINKS BVI SHOULD SPEND $$ FIXING ITS BASIC INFASTRUCTURE, PUMPING S**T IN THE ROAD.. OR PUMPING IT INTO THE OCEAN. RUNNING WATER. SAFE ROADS. EDUCATION. HEALTH.
tHUMBS UP FOR OUR INFASTRUCTURE
THUMBS DOWN FOR AIRPORT.
The only thing he did well was leaving Fish Bay project with RDA.
Airport expansion will be accepted after fixing the road, having facilities for the tourists, expanding the hospital and fire department, fixing water & sewage system to avoid interruptions, educating people to treat non-belongers and tourists well, having public transportation, fixing Prospect Reef, cleaning the territory.
Let me stop for now, 20 years won’t be sufficient for that.
you been to fish bay after a torrential rain? – the damn place floods like crazy! – All that money spent leaving the drainage gut still way too small. We cant do anything properly in this country.
Who thinks $400,000,000 will actually really end up being $1,200,000,000.
Just look at any other VI project. The ones where we actually end up with something I mean.
(Not the Airline, the greenhouses, the old peoples home, the roads, the sewers, water distribution, fishing complex, beach at Brandywine, public buses, refurbished admin complex, traffic lights on roundabouts, prospect reef hotel and training centre, Joe’s Hill Student Housing, National Parks UB40 Fundloser, VG Passenger Ferry Dock) Don’t look at those. Projects that complete.
Like the bridge. $6.73 million USD for a bridge that is just over 70 meters long.
The Hospital. The project was originally budgeted at approximately US$10 million but ended up costing well over US$100 million to construct, plus another US$16 million to furnish.
Pier Park. The final cost reaching about $85 million, which was over $35 million more than the initial $50 million estimate.
Hodges Creek road. Norham $2.3 Million. The Minister does not even know yet what that project is likely to cost. What?????!!!!! How can you not know!!
Some $15Million already spent on this airport and not one benefit to the VI so far.
Does everyone not see where this SECRET airport project is going.
In 2012 the Hospital project accounted for nearly 84% of thepublic debt.
That was a $10 Million project that ballooned to $116Million.
The airport starting price is $400Million.
Can no one see where this is going???
VIGILATE
The UK would mad to allow this level of additional borrowing when we don’t have a functioning water supply, sewage and waste management system or roads.
I think this is being set up to be used as an excuse either to justify lack of growth in the economy or as a reason to justify independence.
Just NO. U.K. Now
Don’t worry. They can’t get the funding.
to begin new construction projects to benefit the BVI while the old projects are never ever finished. Just finish ALL the unfinished construction projects in the BVI before extending the Beef island runway 2500 ft.
Well it’s 4,646 feet now.
7,000 feet is a lot longer.
Currently planes departing are warned to
look for sailboats.
These extra 2,300+ feet must go out in the water.
Sailboats prohibited there?
Has the public actually seen the KPMG report and what it says? It’s one thing to estimate a payoff period and based on finger-in-the-air estimates and a long list of assumptions, it’s another to actually plan for and project’s the practical engineering requirements, social cost, and flow-on affects to infrastructure.
Open questions – maybe there are answers to these, but I haven’t seen any:
Is the intention to close Trellis Bay completely and turn it into a wasteland of stagnant water and rotting sargassum? Or to reclaim out to Bellamy Cay and connect Beef Is. to the cays off the far-east of Tola; if the latter, where does the road go, or are we really planning to tunnel under the runway? Or are we really expecting major terraforming of large portions of Beef Island to re-orientate the runway east-west?
What impact will the runway have on (what’s left of) our fishing industry, through the destruction of some of BVI’s better remaining mangroves?
Where will the Trellis Bay ferry terminal be moved to and at what cost?
How many new passengers will the runway actually serve, and what new markets will be served that can’t / won’t be served by existing E175 jets? (Sorry to all the Brits pushing for this, but the chance of a regular wide-body service from the UK are slim to none given existing services and BVI’s geographic location in the region).
What other infrastructure upgrades are required to allow for that increased airlift (if even realistic), and what capacity (financial and skills) does BVI have to meet those? It’s taken 18+ months for a half-done and short road upgrade…
What is BVI doing to improve the quality of its medium-stay tourism product to create demand for the increased airlift? (Cruise ships don’t fly).
Who’s constructing the runway, what expertise do they have, and what’s the cost of bringing in external construction expertise for such a massive project?
All in all I haven’t seen any real evidence to support a genuine business case for this project – likely outcome on the evidence available seems to be (1) massive increase in debt to unsustainable levels, (2) underused and/or poorly completed runway, (3) flow-on financial negative externalities in additional infrastructure requirements, (4) irreversible environmental changes which will negatively impact the quality of the tourism product necessary to support the demand the runway is supposedly there to meet.