Last August, government announced that it expected to have public meetings “within the coming weeks” about the proposed expansion of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.
Since then, officials have announced that they intend to negotiate with the state-owned China Communications Construction Company to undertake the project, but they still have not scheduled any public meetings.
But in response to questions from a reporter at March 8 press conference, Premier Dr. Orlando Smith promised that meetings will indeed be held for government to receive public feedback about the development before any contract is signed to commence the expansion.
Asked why there haven’t been any public meetings about the project since 2012, Dr. Smith responded, “These meetings have to be planned so they can be effective and efficient.”
On Dec. 27, government announced that CCCC was the “preferred bidder” for the project, though Dr. Smith said on Feb. 16 that official negotiations had yet to begin.
CCCC’s final bid on the development was about $153 million, undercutting the other final bidder — a consortium made up of the Canada-based IDL Group, the Cayman Islands-based McAlpine Limited, and the Virgin Islands-based ADC Construction Company — which bid nearly $199 million.
No public meetings about the project have been held since early 2012, when Deputy Premier Dr. Kedrick Pickering described a $38 million expansion that he said was a “done deal.”
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