Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has announced plans to further increase the land space to accommodate the landside facilities to make it consistent with the Master Plan for the Argyle International Airport.{{more}}

This, he says, has cost implications, since additional lands will have to be bought. However, he pointed out that this will not increase the total estimated cost of $589 million for the project, since $50 million was set aside in the total estimated cost for contingencies such as this.

Dr Gonsalves was speaking on Thursday, March 26th, during a sitting of the House of Assembly in response to a question about whether there are any changes in the estimates of the airport as a result of delays or changes in design.

The Prime Minister said the decision to increase the area by 30 acres allows for an orderly growth of the landside facilities over the long term, as spelt out in the Master Plan that is now being finalised. As a result of this design change, they would not only have to pay more for additional lands, but also have more earthworks and additional technical studies to do on the new area to be incorporated into the project. These additional works will extend the project completion time by another three months. As a result, he said the IADC is now targeting a new project completion date of the end of March 2012.

According to Dr Gonsalves, the extended hours of work, additional lands for the landside facilities and associated technical works are altogether estimated to cost EC$12 million. This amount, however, is well within the amount budgeted as contingencies for these components of the project, and, therefore, does not lead to an increase in the overall cost of the project of EC$589 million.