The Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority and Mr. Andy Brown, the contractor for the temporary passenger terminal at the Blowing Point Port, are racing to have the work completed on the ‘Big Jim Building’ as the month of December, a highpoint in the tourism season, approaches.
The privately-owned building, now under structural modification, at the entrance to the port, is the substitute for the permanent showpiece terminal to be built in the near future. It is understood that the cost of remodeling the family-owned Big Jim Building is in the region of EC $200,000. Some EC$40 million is reportedly allocated for the overall port development project, provided as part of the UK Government Grant for Anguilla of 60 million pounds sterling.
Apart from making changes inside the building for Immigration, Customs and other services, two separate areas for arriving and departing passengers are in advanced stages of construction in front of the main building.
The work is being supervised by Mr. Julian Daniel, Infrastructural Adviser at the Department of Infrastructure, and Mr. Shomari Kentish, Engineer with the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority.
Speaking about the construction work outside the main building, Mr. Daniel told The Anguillian newspaper: “All of this (the southern temporary wooden structure) is part of the departure area. The effort is to make the passengers/clients as comfortable as possible. Because of the type of destination that Anguilla is, we want to make sure that the accommodation, as presented in the temporary situation, is conducive to what the product of the island is. The contractor is working very hard to develop areas for departure and a separate area for arrivals which is in the building proper. All of this is part of the Big Jim property, but we are separating the arrivals from the departures which is also a security requirement. That is being done in the operational side, and also in the walkway, so that we would not have any mixing of arrivals and departures, congestions or bottlenecks.”
Mr. Daniel explained that when the time comes for the building of the permanent terminal that the whole area, just down from the Big Jim Building, will be a construction site. “Where the parking is now, that will not be available,” he explained. “There will be construction work going right down to the gate, at the port, to service this temporary facility for arrivals and departures – as well as for transporting the luggage for those arriving and departing. The construction site will eventually be cordoned off for safety and dust. We will have parking on other portions of land [to the west of the public road where a number of buildings were demolished].”
The walkway, to which Mr. Daniel referred earlier, will be a covered and enclosed area affording opportunities for internal beautification and billboards.
Mr. Shomari Kentish, speaking on behalf of the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority (AASPA), commented: “We are hoping that this is going to create a very nice streamlined approach for both arriving and departing passengers. Hurricane Irma destroyed our buildings, to a great degree, and now we are just trying to create an atmosphere which is more conducive for the travelling public.
“I am content with the rate and the pace with which the construction process is going full speed ahead. The contractor is doing quite well despite the odds. He has a very mammoth task with deadlines to meet. We are putting on the pressure as much as we could, but ensuring that he gets the right resources to execute the project.”
Mr. Andy Brown, a popular and responsible young man, and a Blowing Point resident, known across Anguilla for his outstanding photography, printing, graphic and design work, is the contractor for the remodeling of the Big Jim Building. He is the Owner/Manager of Hi-Tek Signs & Designs.
“Our company was approached in terms of the conceptual design on how we can make a feasible layout between the port and the Big Jim Building,” Mr. Brown explained. “We were very much instrumental in coming up with a design concept, and also able to execute that design concept. We met with the various stakeholders and saw what their needs were, took it from there, and came up with a design concept to be feasible – and in keeping with what we intend to achieve for the tourism product we are trying to sell in Anguilla, and on a low budget. I think we have achieved a lot so far, working with the existing structure that was already on the ground.”
Mr. Brown, speaking about his technical expertise, continued: “We have a lot of ideas that will be executed in the finishing stages of the work. We want to actually use this as a showpiece to highlight our sporting icons. We want to remind persons that they had just visited the island home of many of our greats like Shara Proctor and Zharnel Hughes – so we are going to incorporate some of this information through electronic media and static visuals. There are going to be a number of aspects of the project to highlight a great portion of our tourism product and our history.”
The local artist, who aptly described himself as “an innovative out-of-the box thinker”, was delighted to have been selected to carry out the design work at the Big Jim Building. “I am happy that ASSPA has afforded our company, Hi-Tek Signs & Designs, the opportunity to spearhead the project. We were able to make a good linkage in terms of what they want to see here at the port.
“We have a number of persons on our team. Among them, we have Bennett’s Construction, a well-know contractor, who is assisting in the retro-fix, and we are able to execute the desires at the port in terms of security – and to come close to what is wanted in a temporary location, and what is to be implemented in the permanent terminal.”
Mr. Brown added: “I feel a sense of village pride, as well as patriotic pride, as a young Anguillian, to be part of the project. It lends an opportunity for us to make a meaningful contribution to something on a national level. That was good on AASPA’s part for looking at home-grown talent and not just overseas. I think we have a number of young persons in Anguilla who are very much capable, and we just need to give them the opportunity. I am pleased for the opportunity to come up with the design concept. This could be a steppingstone for other Anguillians to realize that we have a lot here, on our very own soil, that we can use in this and other areas.”
