Beef Island Airport Development Project

The Beef Island airport development project consists of four distinct phrases or sub projects namely the extension of the runway to about 5,000 feet, construction of additional aircraft parking space, construction of a terminal building about four times the size of the present building, landside parking and a new access road and re-location of the air control tower and fire station. The project is expected to cost about $55 million and be completed in three years time. At this estimated cost and duration of construction, this project will be the largest ever in the history of the British Virgin Islands. This project has been seriously discussed since 1986 and it has been in the planning cycle since 1988. Please see more details on the Overview and Description of this project.

Feasibility studies and consultancies on this project cost more than $5.31 million and took more than 8 years. The initial study was conducted by the Organization Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Economic Affairs Secretariat. This was followed by the design of the terminal building by Design SA (a Greek firm). This consultancy was unacceptable to the European Investment Bank (EIB) and subsequently a master plan for the development of the airport was executed by the Netherlands Airports Consultants followed by the architectural engineering designs. An environmental Impact Assessment and a management study have been conducted as well. For more details, please see Feasibility Studies and Consultancies.

The implementation strategy of this project is designed to accommodate uninterrupted operation of the airport, fast and efficient construction, involvement of local contractors and satisfaction of the procurement rules of our overseas financing agencies. The implementation strategy also takes in consideration the requirements and recommendations of the Environment Impact Assessment. Please see Implementation Strategy and Particulars for more details.

The management structure of the development and implementation team as well as the requirements of the financing agencies necessitated a very comprehensive reporting regime. Monthly reports are prepared in various formats for the financing agencies covering the physical and financial progress. For more details and edited reports please see Periodic Progress Reports.

We believe that the people of the BVI and the international community are entitled to see the progress of this critical project visually. In this connection we will place a series of photographs showing physical progress every 4 to 6 weeks. We invite you to view these pictures in the section on Pictures and Photographs.