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Earth movement at Melville Hall for airport expansion
Prime Minister Skerrit’s recent pronouncements at a Marigot Town hall meeting about plans to build an International Airport for Dominica, are just more empty election talk.
Mr Skerrit’s lack of seriousness, his total confusion and his government’s several contradictions about International Airport, are conveyed in his 2009/ 2010 budget address and his Government’s Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS) presented to Parliament at its recent sitting on July 31st 2009. According to the Skerrit Government in its GSPS, p65,
“Dominica’s public finances are now in a far better shape. Yet the new airport with a runway of 3000m, capable of facilitating direct services from North America and Europe, would cost in the region of EC$400 million.”
In Mr Skerrit’s budget Speech presented to the same Parliament, on page23, his pronouncement shifts drastically, he says: “What we can say thus far is that a new international airport will cost close to EC$1 billion ”, a variation of over 150%.Mr Skerrit continues, “Very preliminary calculations of the economic implications of constructing an international airport, costing approximately EC$1 billion, borrowed today, with a 30-year term and grace period of three years, at say, 5% interest, and with a first disbursement in November 2009, suggest that central government debt-to-GDP ratio would be close about 118% of GDP at full disbursement. These projections are extremely conservative in that they assume that there will be no other borrowings by Government over the 30 year term of the loan, for any other purpose – economic, social or disaster –related.”
Skerrit’s Pronouncements, Wild and Irresponsible.
A difference in estimates from $400m to $1000 million represents a two and half times variation. This is wild and irresponsible. No Government or Minister of Finance who is serious about one of the Country’s most important Development Projects would present such wild and irresponsible estimates to Parliament about a Project as important as The International Airport.
This vast contradiction in the Skerrit Government’s estimates of the cost of construction of an international Airport for Dominica confirms clearly that Mr Skerrit and his Government’s pronouncements on International Airport are just empty election talk.
Skerrit’s Short Term vision
Dominicans Are Still Paying the High Cost of Mr Skerrit’s lack of vision. In April 2003, before the Government of Dominica embarked upon the night landing project for Melville hall Airport, Hon. Prevost presented an opposition members motion to Parliament, calling on the Labour Party Government to,
“..set up a special committee consisting of Members of Parliament from all three political Parties, to work with Government in arriving at the best short, medium and long term solutions to Dominica’s critical air access problem,” pointing out that, “ ..a large investment in Melville hall airport at this stage, would only meet Dominica’s air access needs in the short run..and would make it very difficult for Dominica to economically justify the construction of an international Airport for the next fifteen Years. ”. However the Labour Government at the time rejected the proposal, and opted to proceed with plans to install night landing at Melville hall Airport, with regional funds from the European Union, even though it was known to be only a short term solution to Dominica’s air access problem. To date, more than six years later, the short term has come and gone, and the night landing facility at Melville hall, which according to Governments estimate will cost about EC $110m has not been completed.
According to Hon Prevost, “The fact that the Skerrit Government has taken more than six years to complete an EC100m airport night landing project, is an indication of the Governments lack of capacity, and the logical deduction from this is that it would take the same government 60 years, to complete an EC$1 Billion ($1000 million) International Airport. Dominican’s just cannot afford another five years of Mr Skerrit talking about the poor air access to the island.
Press release from the Office of Hon. Norris Prevost
