McAlpine wins $42.5M airport job
CIAA CEO Albert Anderson (Left) and General Manager of McAlpine Ltd, Ian Pairaudeau
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Airport Authority has signed a CI$42.5 million contract with McAlpine to build the second phase of the Owen Roberts International Airport expansion project. The contractor beat out Arch & Godfrey to secure the two-year plus project after the Dart Group’s contractor, DECCO, pulled out of the bid. The project is expected to create around 100 new construction jobs and groundbreaking is expected over the next few weeks as the first phase to move the baggage hall nears completion. The new facility is expected to be finished mid 2018 and it will be able to handle significantly more passengers, opening up opportunities for further growth in overnight tourism.
Currently ORIA handles well over one million passengers per year, even though it was built to deal with just half a million.
When the new airport is finished, it will have the capacity to accommodate more than 2.2 million arrivals every year. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell said it would help attract investment into the local tourism product as, finally, rather than talking about redeveloping the airport, the current government was actually doing it.
“It puts us in a strategic position that we should have been in years ago,” he said at a press briefing for the official contract signing.
Deputy Premier Kirkconnell said that, faced with growing air arrivals in a tourist driven economy, government had to invest in infrastructure and the airport was a key part of that. He stressed that investing in key infrastructure helped boost investor confidence in the overall tourism product.
Officials described it, not as a destination airport in itself, but as a modern, efficient facility that would improve the passenger experience and get them through much quicker, which the tourism minister said had been needed for years.
Joey Hew, the councillor in the tourism ministry, said the overcrowding at ORIA was one of the biggest threats to the tourism product that had to be addressed. “We need to make the experience as pleasurable as possible,” he noted.
This is first major public capital project since government completed its new headquarters on Elgin Avenue. With lessons learned from other major infrastructure initiatives that went wrong, the CIAA has employed a project manager to oversee what will be a complex project, as the airport will remain operational while the expansion is under construction. In addition, the Public Works Project Office has employed a manger designated to monitor the project.
Work will begin on the west side of the airport. Officials said that whenever possible, major work that will interfere with passengers and general airport operations will be done out of hours, but whatever happens, safety and security at the airport would take priority over the work.
“We are working to minimise the disruption,” said Denise Stabler, the CIAA’s senior project manager for the airport redevelopment project.
Minister Kirkconnell said that he believed that if passengers realised that an upgrade was happening, they would bear the discomfort with an eye on the future improvements.
Category: development, Local News
Is that the McAlpine that “built” the expansion of Cayman Prep. on Smith Rd? OMG! Check out what went very wrong there!! Hope they are doing better now.
Same ones that built the Walkers Building, what could possibly go wrong?
The Wakers building problems were not caused by McAlpine. UK engineers (appointed by the client), who had never worked in this region,allegedly screwed up.
What did go wrong? You mean Smith Road not Walkers Road? Walkers Road expansion was excellent.
McAlpine did not build anything for Cayman Prep
Public Works Project Management involved?!! Good night Hanna!!
Public Works Proj management, XXXX have been the single biggest reason for CIG project cost over runs for the last 10 years.
Politicians dont proj manage and they are not accountable for govt spending. Chief Officers dont proj manage but they are responsible and accountable (along with CFOs) for govt spending. PWD proj manage but they are not responsible nor accountable for govt spending. Something is wrong here.
At least with the PPM we know all the money will go towards the project and not siphoned off in commissions.
That was the old PWD. Can’t you see the civil service has been transformed into a dynamic organisation. Plus we have an elected Government that is following best practise in all that they do.
I am so proud.
Airport redevelopment tick
Budget surplus. Tick
Improved reputation tick
No arrests for corruption tick
Pension reform tick
Standards in public life legislation tick
Every EY recommendation actioned tick
Reduced crime tick
Key posts in the civil service filled tick
Open and transparent process with both the seaport and landfill solutions tick
Beneficial ownership tick
Okay I will stop there. Wow wow
Reduced crime? Middle class & poor people are suffering. Cost of living is the highest ever and you said tick? Let me see here. Either you are a Jack Ass or you are smoking CRACK! Stop it
Come on Anthony I know the truth hurts boy. Step out of the darkness of negativity and doom and open your eyes to the positive world of real achievement.
Come on come on you can do it.
The PPM is making the opposition look real stupid and are the butt of alot of jokes of late and Bush Mclean and Miller are the laughing stock of the Cayman Islands gov’t is run by cabinet (secret)so Mckeeva has to beg to find out what is happening and Miller & Mclean are depending on gossip and rumour what a mess they are in???
This present Administration (government) is the worst for the Caymanian people. They are a useless bunch!
Still no jetways and from the looks of it an antiquated airport terminal design. Single storey terminals are no longer appropriate as they take up too much land area. Modern designs favour a two storey facility which enables the installation and operation of simple stuff like jetways.
Antiquated before it is even started!
It is not single storey.
This government and island all over. It will get built and on time but with cheap imported labour. Come on Cayman no government this or previous gives a s?/t about local labour, if they did they would start at education and further education
And – STILL no jetways – this is still a Third World design
Spending over forty million and still no jetways. We need people with accounting expertise and not telephone expertise.
soooo Skeptical…. lets see your logic put in action. You have $500k to build your house and a posh drive way. The contractor tells you the $500k can only build the house. Accordingly to your third world design you will reduce the size of your house so that you have your posh drive way????
My thinking is that I would perhaps build the house I need for the $500k and build the posh drive way I don’t need when I can afford it.
What your are asking the Government to do is build a smaller terminal with jetways. So we will continue to have huge a congestion of passengers who will walk into the congested terminal using a post jetway!!
Now that is some 3rd world logic!!
We have been talking about the need to renovate the airport for 15 years- one Government has actually done it. Oh and they used an open procurement process.
Why are jetways needed? Many airports larger than ORIA do not have these. I went to Hawaii (The Big Island) a few years ago and they did not. Even when you go to a very large international airport (e.g. Heathrow, Kennedy) sometime your flight has to use stairs and a bus.
Well said, the old airport was built on budget and without jetways . Same will apply here with the same firm of Architects, congratulations to all concerned.
Can anyone name all the jobs that will be created for Caymanians over $10 per hour? One bedroom $1150 per month all inclusive.
Assinine question. Unqualified labourers will probably get min wage, maybe more if lucky, qualified people more…Whats the bedroom reference? Provide your services to the opposite (or maybe same) sex for that price a month? Do you have a license for that?
What will the foreign worker do now MacKeewa??? go home or resort to his backup plan Crime spree on the horizon Cayman. Even Ezzard and Arden have to agree with this decision although they appear these days to be well in the dark with whats going on in Cayman.
Ezzard nor Arden have a clue whats going on and the question is do they really care?????? Totally loss and self absorbed in their own little dimension.
The typical response from Ezzard or Arden when they dont want to agree with what a good job the PPM are doing on a particular subject is to say that they havent read the story on that yet
Big It Up big it up PPM a win for the Caymanian worker and all those kissing up to the PPM did not get dey props got’s nuttin tek dat sucka’s. Poor mac PPM out do you again ? Poor old mac can’t win for loosing. 4 more years PPM 4 more years Babuska you and those 2 dreamers from east end & northside ain’t going no where. You don’t even have a clue whats going on in Cayman!
Stop smoking crack cocaine!
separate concourse for Montego Bay and Kingston?
What’s the point immigration have no idea who comes and who go’s
I wish.
Make sure you build out that smoking area quick time!
Well needed and good that the airport still belongs to the people of the Cayman islands and not leased to foreign companies FYI its not 1 million its 500,000 IN and 500,000 OUT
Ya mon, those foreign companies run airport so badly…like all the top airports in Europe are so unmodernised and uncomfortable right? Get real a lot of the best airports are run by foreign companies in all the major hubs in Europe (ie not from their own country). Couldn’t have Cayman suffer that, could we?
“opening up opportunities for further growth in overnight tourism.”
Cayman Tourism is ramping up their new campaign:
“Book your stay on AirBnB and get a bonus night in RCIPS Custody Suites!”
I’m with you on this one! This is the best (and quickest) major undertaking to help the Cayman Islands. Many jobs are being created with this action and many more stay-over visitors will be coming soon. Unlike the dock, there’s minimal harm to our environment. Bring it on!
when dart pulls out….you should be worried……
that’s what she said
Dart pulls out when the do-it-by-the-book PPM are there. He stays in when its all-for-self UDP/McKeeva inwolwed
I hope they put more shade out there. They’ve taken all of the shade trees away. No place to sit and wait without sweltering heat.
SHADE!!!!!!
so…what are you saying??? You want more shade?
Yes 2.50 he is saying that. How can he smoke his ganja sweating in the sun? All the best ganja smokers need tree coverage-for when they fall asleep.
Shade trees at an airpoirt? Leaves/branches and jet engines do not go too well together. IF they build it big enough the point is that everyone can then go into the AC rather than having to queue outside.
SHADE!!!