According the Managing Director of Ports, Mr Claude O. Skelton-Cline, they have gone through the procurement processes to ascertain what needs to be done at the West End and Virgin Gorda Ports. Photo: VINO

Speaking at a Friday March 28, 2014 press conference at the BVIPA Headquarters Mr Skelton Cline told reporters that they are still working with short, medium and long term plans which were set out over a year ago. He said moving from one stage to the other hinges on the government doing their part. Photo: VINO

Speaking at a recent press conference at the BVIPA Headquarters Mr Skelton Cline told reporters that they are still working with short, medium and long term plans which were set out over a year ago. He said moving from one stage to the other hinges on the government doing their part.

He said that the development of the Cruise Pier is currently out of his hands as he has done his part and it is now in the hands of government. “That’s a matter that’s with the central government at the moment and so they would have to speak to that, the Port Authority has done its work and so they are in the process of that and at some appointed time I suspect that we would receive official notification,” said Skelton Cline.

According the Managing Director of Ports they have gone through the procurement processes to ascertain what needs to be done at the West End and Virgin Gorda Ports. “The evaluation team has done its work; again it’s a matter for central government once they are in receipt of those final documents to make some final decisions.”

He said that giving the magnitude of the Cruise Ship Pier development project and its funding, that is on the front burner and immediately behind that are West End and Virgin Gorda. “It surrounds itself with funding, so we are in the process of first bringing closure to the cruise ship pier development then we would immediately turn our attention to funding opportunities and mechanisms for West End and Virgin Gorda specifically.”

He also said that they are considering expanding and opening up the space at the Road Town Jetty as the number of passengers coming through that port is expanding. “We are constrained somewhat by the physical facility... that’s an ongoing challenge,” he noted.

“We have some plans with some timelines and benchmarks… we have had some meetings and some visitors not so long ago from Asia in particular and so we are at the genesis, the embryonic stages...” said Mr Skelton Cline.

In speaking of the plans he said that their next step is to hire someone, a consultant, to put together the piece before moving on.