With design plans and financial arrangements already laid out, bids are being evaluated for the construction of a new Anguilla Fire & Rescue Services Headquarters – and a new Air Traffic Control Tower, a stone’s throw away from the existing facilities at the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport. The Wallblake Estate project is being financed at an estimated cost of US $3.5 million. The money is part of a United Kingdom Government grant and funds to the Anguilla Government.
“Currently, we have two phases of that project going on,” said Anguillian Engineer and Director of Construction at the Department of Infrastructure, Communications, Utilities and Housing, Mr. Rawle Hazell. “We are doing the earth and civil works at the site, and are in the process of evaluating the bids to select the general contractor.”
Mr. Hazell, speaking to The Anguillian, continued: “Thirteen contracting companies [all registered in Anguilla] collected the biding documents from the Procurement Office. Of that number, seven contractors met the deadline. Three contractors did not meet the deadline so the Chief Procurement Officer didn’t accept their bids. The seven bids, which were submitted on time, are now being evaluated and we have opened the technical part of the bids. It was a two-envelop/two-stage process which means the bids are being evaluated on the technical requirements first of all; and then we will open the financial bids of only those contractors achieving a score of 70% or higher. Those who do not achieve that score of 70%, or above, will have their financial bids returned to them unopened. So, right now, there is an Evaluation Committee in place and they are evaluating the technical bids, as I said.”
Asked to comment further on the project, Mr. Hazell replied: “We are basically preparing the site for the selected contractor so there will not be much of that work for the general contractor. We are removing the bad material. As you know, there is a large deposit of clay around the airport so we are taking out as much as possible of that and creating a soil foundation to support the building.”
He went on: “The new fire station will sit about 20 feet away from the old fire station. At that point, we are digging to a depth of 12 feet and will refill with about 2 – 4 feet of a different material more suitable for the building to sit on. That excavation is on-going right now and we are putting in an access road to and from the fire station.”
Mr. Hazell described the building as follows: “It will comprise a total of eight fire bays. Four of them, on the domestic side of the building, will serve the island; and the other four fire bays will deal primarily with fire-fighting at the airport. With one fire station, we can’t afford to duplicate one set of firemen for the airport and another set somewhere else for the domestic service. Therefore, there is a combined fire station. The areas for the fire bays will accommodate fire-fighting appliances and equipment – serving as mechanical, storage and servicing rooms; and there will be an administrative block – all on the ground floor. Within that administrative block will be an area for training and conferences.
“On the other floor will be a dormitory as the fire officers provide a 24-hour service. One or two corridors will be set up there so that persons visiting them can be facilitated as well, thus avoiding us the expense of accommodating them elsewhere. There will also be a kitchen and a dining hall, plus there will also be further storage space on that level.
“The third floor will make provision for a Sentry Office where a fire-fighter on the airport side has to be able to see both ends of the runway. Currently a fire-fighter on the ground floor [of the existing building] cannot see both ends of the runway. So we have taken the opportunity to raise that area of the new building to the necessary height where officers can see both ends of the airstrip and can communicate with the Control Tower. There will also be the Met Office, an equipment room for the tower on the top floor.”
Mr. Hazell disclosed that over the past two years the current Control Tower has been leaking, and is continuing to do so, thus affecting sensitive equipment. “The regulators sent a very damning report in which they basically told the airport authorities if they don’t get this rectified, or show steps towards that end, we were going to be closed down,” he stated. “We were able to respond by saying we would combine the tower within the [new] building. That has satisfied the regulators and so we are starting to take steps to concretely address this problem.”
The construction work is expected to be completed within a period of 18 months to two years. “I think the overall cost is 3.5 million US dollars,” Hazell added. “There are still some aspects of the project which still have to go on tender such as the main electrical work – installing two back-up generators and connecting them into the main grid and the existing airport facilities.”
Meanwhile, the Anguilla Government is considering a separate airport development plan, including an extended runway, later on. The new fire station and control tower, now to be constructed, is expected to be incorporated into that planned development.
Editor’s Note:
The Anguillian will shortly publish an article in connection with an interview with Mr. Fabian M. Fahie, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority and a key official of two related committees.
