Plans to add several thousand feet to the runway at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport are moving forward, Deputy Premier Dr. Kedrick Pickering said, though a report detailing the expansion’s environmental impact has been delayed.
Speaking in the House of Assembly last Thursday, Dr. Pickering updated legislators on the expansion’s progress in the first detailed public statements he has made about the project since March.
Then he said that after years of study and with input from the Louis Berger Group, a consulting firm commissioned to create a “master plan” for the territory’s airport, government decided to expand the Beef Island airport’s runway because the project is “critical” to keep tourists coming to the Virgin Islands.
Despite mixed reactions from attendees at March public meetings held to discuss the plan, Dr. Pickering said several studies related to the project are ongoing, including an environmental impact assessment being conducted by the firm Kraus-Manning.
However, while Kraus-Manning was scheduled to have submitted the EIA to government last month, the report has been delayed by a few weeks, he said. The delay was needed because the Town and Country Planning Department requested that government undertake a scoping study for the project, according to Dr. Pickering.
See the May 17, 2012 edition for full coverage.
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