Plans for the construction of a new cargo jetty at Road Bay, Sandy Ground, moved closer to reality on Monday, January 29. That was when four bids were opened at a meeting of the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority at La Vue, overlooking the scenic port. The opening of the bids was performed by Chief Procurement Officer, Ms. Ludiane Leveret-Richardson.
Following are the bidders and the amount of each bid:
• Windwards Roads BV
Harbour View, Philipsburg,
Great Bay, St. Maarten; along with
Anguilla Roads and Construction, Inc.
Amount: EC$45,648,128.00
• Edgehill Associates, Caribbean Ltd.
C/o John Dyrud, First Anguilla Trust, The Valley, Anguilla, with Regional Office in Barbados.
Amount: EC$31,298,167.00
• Meridian Construction Company Ltd.
Road Bay, Tortola, BVI
Amount: EC$59,256,282.90
• Soletanche Batchy
Cimas SA
Zentai Building, Tower 1, 703
Bogota, Columbia.
Amount: EC$60,126,203.86
The Anguillian newspaper asked Mr. Fabian M. Fahie, Chairman of the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority, to comment on the event. He replied as follows:
“I am happy that we have got to this stage in terms of opening the bids. It means that, with the assessment [of the bids] and recommendations from the consultant coming up next, we can hopefully come to a decision within a reasonable time and see this project start in the third quarter of this year, mid-year or something like that.” (The consulting company is DLN Consultants formerly D L Lashley & Partners, of Barbados, and is very familiar with Anguilla and very experienced in working at Road Bay.)
Mr. Fahie continued: “The new jetty is very vital for us in terms of our economic progress over the next five to ten years because it would see us through until we can get a deep water harbour in Corito. That’s why this is so vital to enable us to cross that timeframe from where we are now to a deep water harbour.
“The existing jetty, itself, would not be able to provide a degree of surety of being able to meet the cargo port needs before we get a new cargo jetty. It is going to be built to the south of the existing jetty, but with enough space in between so that both jetties can be used simultaneously.”
The Anguilla Government and the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority recently acquired approximately 2.5 acres of land at Road Bay, through a negotiated sale agreement with the landowners, to facilitate the construction of the jetty.
According to the Port Authority’s Facility Manager, Mr. Shomari Kentish, the bidding process started with the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Anguilla and the UK Government towards the end of 2016. The MOU involved a grant of some 6.85 million pounds with a contract price of EC$20,000,000. This was followed by the procurement process and, soon after, the appointment of a consultant in March 2017.
“The consultant was responsible for doing the design, implementation and supervision of the construction work,” Mr. Kentish added. “The tender document was launched on November 15, 2017 and so we are here today to witness the actual opening of the bids for that project.”
