Minister of Finance Colm Imbert clarified statements made during Thursday’s Post Cabinet Media Briefing on the multimillion-dollar Tobago Airport Expansion Project. The Minister said one of the areas of concern was the costs associated with the delay of the project noting that the contractor has claimed more than 200 million US dollars.
The costs associated with the 290-day delay plus the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, was a major concern for Minister of Finance Colm Imbert. These costs, the Minister explained, were submitted to the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO) from contractor China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Company Limited to the tune of 204 million US dollars. The Finance Minister stated that upon advice from NIDCO, 15 million US dollars was paid as an advance of those costs, and is not the final settlement.
The Minister said during Thursday’s Post Cabinet Media Briefing he dealt with the construction cost and not the cost of the entire project. Minister Imbert also explained that the 290-day delay was partially due to the contractor’s inability to access the site due to agitation from the Tobago House of Assembly. He noted that 5 million dollars was lost per day, a figure that the Minister mentioned the contractor claims is a 10 million dollar a day loss.
These enhancements include additional aggregate and enhancement to the design. According to the Minister, NIDCO did its own assessment of what is appropriate and has not agreed to the contractor’s delay claim.
The Finance Minister said the government also had concerns regarding the delays and as such felt the need to hire its own consultants, international firms, Gleeds and Mott Mac Donald.
The new ANR Robinson Airport Expansion Project is expected to be completed on March 31st 2025.