by Devonne Cornelius
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Construction works are expected to commence next week on the second cruise pier at Port Zante to be able to accommodate larger ships.
That announcement came during a press conference on Wednesday (Oct. 27) hosted by Minister of Tourism Lindsay Grant.
“We are not satisfied that their pier, as it is now, can satisfy the needs of what we want,” the Tourism Minister said, adding that “I got my cabinet colleagues to support me in terms of doing the necessary works to put it in a position to have three Oasis Class Ships…at any given time.”.
“Next week we should see some concrete works beginning which will be able to join the second pier and the first pier in terms of the walkway and we are expecting to finish within two weeks. Cruise pier two has a bedrock and the cruise lines want a depth of 37 feet and we are off a little. We are going to dredge pier two for the bedrock to make sure when the barometric survey is done after dredging, we have a depth of 37 feet.”.
Dredging will also happen at the cargo pier and the first cruise pier which will also see replacements of the fenders.
The second cruise pier was constructed at a cost of US$48 million by the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) following the signing of a contract in November 2017 between CCC and the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority.
The cruise pier was funded through the joint efforts of local business establishments. The St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank – US$34 million, St. Kitts and Nevis Social Security Board – US$7 million, St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation – US$7 million, and the St. Kitts and Nevis Trading and Development Company (TDC) – US$ 2 million.
