Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said work on the Port Modernization Project was designed and carried out to the highest standards and quality, making it one of the best Ports anywhere in the Eastern Caribbean.
He made this statement during an official ceremony held yesterday, September 18, for the handing over of keys for the buildings on the Port Modernization Project, at its site in Kingstown.
The Port Modernization Project is funded by the Caribbean Development Fund and the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Prime Minister Gonsalves said work on the project was carried out by Aecon Construction which is an international level contractor and given the go ahead by the Caribbean Development Bank, as it met all the relevant criteria.
"When I hear people talking about how this project is structured, look, we have an international level contractor Aecon out of Canada. They have done multi-million dollar, billion dollar contracts all over the world in Canada and elsewhere. They won the bid an independent tendering process which was satisfied by the CDB procedures and our own procedures which are laid down in a modern law which we made we passed with best practices. We don't do things with harum-scarum, we have the institutional arrangements."
Prime Minister Gonsalves said the work on the project was overseen by capable Vincentian professionals in their respective fields to ensure everything was done to the highest quality.
"We have an independent consultant Cell Horn and they will be our eyes and ears as to how things are going in accordance with the contract and the designs. But we also had to have a Project Implementation Unit overseen by a steering committee, that's the one which Laura Anthony-Browne heading, the steering committee. But within that there were technical people like Lenski Douglas and then above that you have the ministry and then you have the Prime Minister keeping an eye and getting reports on an ongoing basis and some of those discussions I myself chaired them to make sure that we are on the same page in going forward. So, this is a port which is designed to the highest standards and quality one of the best you have anywhere in the Eastern Caribbean."
The project will be fully operational by October 25th of this year.
SOURCE: National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC Radio)