A team from Infrastructure United Kingdom (IUK), a division of Her Majesty’s Treasury in London, has held wide-ranging discussions in Anguilla on the case for expanding the Clayton Lloyd International Airport runway.
The officials, whose visit was coordinated by Mr Bancroft Battick, Chief Engineer in the Ministry of Infrastructure, included Mr Richard Holmwood who has overall responsibility for the coordination of the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the proposed project; and Mr Paul Illingworth, Project Director.
They had discussions with Government officials, Members of the Opposition, candidates in the upcoming general election, Hoteliers, officials of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Anguilla Air and Seaports Authority and Airlines.
Mr Holmwood told The Anguillian: “Infrastructure UK has come to Anguilla to help look at the case for the airport expansion, and this is part of a broader context whereby we are working with the Government of Anguilla to consider what the case is for increasing productive capacity of the economy of which access is a big part. I know that the Caribbean Development Bank is looking at what may be done at Blowing Point, and so the Foreign Office has brought in Infrastructure UK to look at what might be done at the airport. It is part of a partnership between the UK Government and the Government of Anguilla to help economic development in line with the partnership that was set out in the 2012 White Paper. The UK Government is providing technical assistance to the Government of Anguilla.”
The UK Team, which commenced its fact-finding mission on March 2, has March 31 as the target completion date for its review report. The team’s Terms of Reference stated in part: “The fact-finding mission will provide IUK with the opportunity to discuss the procurement elements of the project face to face with key parties and individuals in order to establish facts; seek opinions; generate evidence for the review report and provide support. Through these meetings IUK will hope to test its understanding of the context and current issues and explore the current thinking of key stakeholders and decision-makers.”
According to the Terms of Reference, the written report, with recommendations, will advise the Anguilla Government on what it “should do to optimise its chances of getting an airport development successfully procured.”
The Terms of Reference noted that the Anguilla Government proposes to use a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to take forward the airport expansion – an option which the UK team is also reviewing.
That partnership arrangement currently involves proposals submitted to Government from the Lake & Kentish families and other investors.
Anguilla is experiencing much difficulty with access by air particularly for its tourism industry. The aim of the proposed airport expansion is to encourage large passenger aircraft and increased visitors from Europe, the United States, one of Anguilla’s main tourism marketplaces, and from other countries.
