Douglas: millions of dollars in cost overrun of second cruise ship pier at Port Zant

The leader of the Opposition, the Rt Hon Dr Denzil L Douglas disclosed Tuesday night that there are serious cost overruns in the construction of the second cruise ship pier at Port Zante, which began 10 months ago.

"Recently we have been informed that there is a serious cost overrun in the construction of the second pier amounting into millions of dollars, although the pier is still far from being completion. Millions of dollars in overrun yet the pier is far from being completed," Dr Douglas said during his weekly radio call-in programme on Tuesday night.

However, Dr Douglas gave no further details. Scheduled to cost EC$86.4 million under the then governing St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration, the cost of the cruise ship pier ballooned to a whopping EC$129.6 million price tag – EC$43.2 million more under the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity Government as per sources.

The St Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) secured an EC$91.8 million loan from the St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank; EC$18.9 million from the St. Kitts and Nevis Social Security Board; EC$13.5 million from the St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF) and EC$5.4 million from the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Trading and Development Company (TDC).

Construction began in June 2018 and is expected to be completed in September 2019.