The premier has defended plans to proceed with a major airport expansion despite the decision being made ahead of promised public meetings and the completion of a high-level business case.
“We have, literally, been speaking about this as a community for decades,” Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley said during a press conference on Friday.
“So I think we have passed the stage where we are trying to decide whether we are extending the runway or not.”
The comments came after public officials announced earlier this month that government had already decided to extend the Beef Island runway by at least 1,400 feet.
On Friday, the premier suggested that he had a voter mandate for the move and that the completion of the ongoing business case by consultant KMPG (BVI) Ltd. was not needed to inform the decision to proceed.
“We are extending the run way,” he said. “That’s something that we have campaigned on. That is something that we are going to make a reality. And that project will begin before this administration comes to an end in 2027.”
The premier said the main focus should now be on how to finance the initiative.
“I think the only further conversations for us to have now is the means of financing the project,” he said. “What is the particular model we want to go forward with: whether we want to do public-private partnerships; whether the airport authority will get a loan; or whether central government will get a loan on their behalf. These are the decisions that have to be made at this stage, and I’m sure that the requisite conversations will be had.”
Facebook exchange
On July 2, Communications and Works Ministry Permanent Secretary Elvia Smith-Maduro said during a Facebook broadcast that the runway-extension decision had been made already.
“What we have decided is that we will expand, and we will expand — moving us from what we currently have, which is a 3C airport, to a 4C airport,” the permanent secretary said.
Achieving the “4C” designation would mean extending the current 4,646-foot runway to at least 6,000 feet to enable larger planes to land, according to officials.
The announcement confirmed that the government had made the decision without the benefit of the completed business case or promised public meetings.
The business case is using the “Green Book Five Case Model” employed by His Majesty’s Treasury in the United Kingdom, which includes separate “strategic,” “economic,” “commercial,” “financial” and “management” cases, officials have said.
Those components are expected to examine wide-ranging aspects of the planned project, including its economic viability, its costs and benefits, its potential revenue, its value for money, its compatibility with the territory’s economic and tourism strategies, and others.
Controversy
The proposed expansion has been controversial at least since it was floated by then-premier Dr. Orlando Smith’s administration in 2012.
Dr. Smith and his successors, including Dr. Wheatley, have stated that a major airport expansion is needed to attract larger aircraft that can facilitate more direct connections to the United States mainland and beyond, in turn increasing tourist traffic and revenue to the territory.
But detractors have questioned whether the expansion will bring the direct flights that VI leaders promise.
And even if it does, they have said, a longer runway could adversely affect the existing tourism product by bringing more visitors than the territory can properly accommodate.
But without a comprehensive business case in the public domain, both sides have relied largely on speculation to make their arguments.
Currently, the largest commercial aircrafts flying to Beef Island are American Eagle Embraer E175 jets that carry around 76 passengers at full capacity.
Previous attempts
The move is not the first time a VI government has decided to expand the airport without the benefit of a comprehensive assessment or prior public meetings.
When Dr. Smith’s National Democratic Party-led government first held public meetings on the plan in 2012, officials described the project as a “done deal” and said a 2,500-foot runway extension would cost around $38 million.
The announcement sparked heated dialogue between supporters and detractors of the project.
Some seven years passed before another public meeting, but in the meantime the projected cost ballooned over the course of two tender processes.
Earlier bids A first round of bids in 2013 came in at around $400 million, and a second round for a scaled-down project came in between $153 million and $200 million.
This story has been amended to correctly reflect what government officials said in a July 2024 Facebook broadcast: They said at the time they had decided to extend the runway by at least 1,400 feet.
