The BVI Ports Authority has not yet selected a contractor to build the West End Ferry Terminal, though construction still may begin at the end of the month, BVIPA Director Vincent O’Neal said Friday.
Mr. O’Neal said that the statutory body plans to stick with the original “footprint” of the design, but may split the project into phases.
“It all depends on … what the board thinks, what our finances allow us, and what the ministry’s guidance is on that,” he said.
Mr. O’Neal said that CH2M Hill, the construction and design firm hired to create the plan for the project, suggested that some of the fees quoted by the construction firms were “way out of the ballpark” — in one case three times what the BVIPA anticipated.
The project will cost an estimated $25 million and replace the existing 2,091-square-foot facility with a proposed three-story building with a total floor area of 75,290 square feet, according to an application filed with the Town and Country Planning Department.
Mr. O’Neal said that talks are being held to give the contractors a chance to explain their bids, but the piling stages of the project could begin soon.
“We are hoping that they get all the engineers and the consultants and the financiers and the contractors and government, and everybody gets everything organised so we can start at the end of this month,” he said.
See the April 14, 2011 edition for full coverage.