Three redevelopers seeking to win the heart and mind of the Washington Missick administration for redeveloping the Providenciales International Airport unveiled their design for the facility at the latest meeting on September 26.
Government has signalled their intention to move with alacrity to find a suitable solution to the cramped space at the facility caused by increased airlift into the country, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
The proponents were unsolicited according to a cabinet statement. The presenters were PSA Management-KT-Development Company Ltd, Aecon Group Inc and Vinci Group.
The Washington Misick administration is considering a myriad of plans for the Providenciales International Airport, including whether to have it at a new location. Cabinet did not provide details of the presentation, as it relates to location, design, and cost.
In recent times the Providenciales International Airport has been plagued with congestions much to the chagrin of many of the travellers who use it.
In June, Cabinet began to take a serious look at how to permanently ease the bottleneck at the airport. A cabinet held on June 11, brainstormed a kaleidoscope of possibilities as to the future of the country’s main gateway.
“Members had an in-depth, out of the box, discussion on the direction of travel for the development of an airport on Providenciales to handle current and future needs,” the cabinet news release at the time stated.
Discussion included, but was not restricted to:
a) a number of unsolicited proposals put forward to the Government;
b) re-development vs a new location;
c) ownership (fully owned; private partnership; design, build and operate etc.);
d) funding including share options;
e) management (government, private, joint);
f) existing challenges around traffic movement and land use;
g) involvement of external advice;
h) comparisons within the region;
i) use for inter-regional travel;
j) growth economy opportunities;
k) implications on and other infrastructural needs;
l) public and private transport; and
m) agreed next steps.
In a recent news conference, Premier Hon. Washington Misick announced a multi-million-dollar short-term fix at the facility, which would have made the protracted wait from disembarking of the planes to the immigration checkpoints more bearable.
The premier, at the news conference, declared that his government would be spending about $4million to erect canopies on the tarmac leading to the terminal building, but promised that there was a longer solution coming.
Describing the long lines in the fervent heat that often snake from the steps of the planes on the tarmac to the immigration checkpoints inside the terminal building as a good problem to have, Premier Misick said such spending was geared to ease the wait burden.
The premier pointed out that the inflowing of visitors at the airport is a tell-tale sign that the Turks and Caicos Islands is sexy in the eyes of the international traveller.
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