Tobago Airport Project Overrun By US$2.5 Million

The new ANR Robinson International Airport Construction Project in Tobago is not overrun by hundreds of millions of dollars.

This, from Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, who refuted the claims of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar at Thursday's Post Cabinet Media Briefing.

The new Tobago Airport Terminal is being built by China Railway Construction Limited under contract to the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO). The Funding for the project is being provided by the Ministry of Finance. Minister Imbert explains the original construction contract sum was for US$128.7 million inclusive of provisional sums and contingencies.

He says there have been variations arising from enhancements to the ICT infrastructure, the Low Voltage components of the project, and worldwide increases in the cost of airport equipment and construction materials in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There is no cost overrun of $462 million as has been falsely alleged by the Leader of the Opposition. I want to repeat. As of today, the original construction contract sum has been exceeded by US$2.5 million or 2%."

He admits the project, which had an initial completion date of January 2025, is a bit behind schedule.

"The project is currently 91% complete. Completion is indeed behind the original schedule as a result of delays caused by COVID-19 pandemic among other things. The target date for completion of construction is now March 31st 2025."

As for claims that the Consultant on the project, local firm CEP Limited, had been fired, Minister Imbert says that contract came to an end and the Government thought it necessary to bring in two international firms, Mott MacDonald and Gleeds.

"No Consultant in Trinidad and Tobago has done a project of this complexity before. It's the first time. This is not a dolly house, so this is why we in Finance felt it was important and necessary to bring on one of the top aviation consulting firms in the world and one of the top management firms in the world to advise us."

According to the Finance Minister to date, Mott McDonald has been paid US$200,000 while Gleeds has been paid a total of US$421,000.

Minister Imbert also assures the Tobago Airport project is being built in accordance with the highest international standards.

"In fact one of the reasons for the delay in the project was that all the consultants were being careful especially with the events that we are seeing around the world with climate change in terms of the intensity of hurricanes and so on, being very, very careful to make sure that the design was done in accordance with the proper international standards."

On Monday night, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar told UNC supporters that the project accrued TT$461 million in cost overruns owing to more than a thousand days of delayed works.