Project Progress
On 4 November 2011 Basil Read has been awarded to construct an airport on St Helena Island. The first representatives of Basil Read visited the island on Saturday 19 November 2011 for initial investigations and discussions. Following a second team's visit during December 2011 Basil Read's project manager has settled to the island and the first St Helenian citizen has been employed. Preparation works are expected to begin in early 2012 in Rupert's Valley on the west coast, which includes establishing storage facilities, a temporary fuel farm and the design and construction of a temporary wharf.
Basil Read has been sourcing its own ship, a roll-on/roll-off vessel called NP Glory 4 flying the Thai flag, which, as planned, docked for the first time at St Helena on 11 July 2012 and will regularly supply the island with cargo and personnel for the project.
Basil Read CEO Heyns in November 2011 said design phase would begin immediately and anticipated that construction could begin in May 2012 which at peak would employ some 300 people of which as many locals as possible should be involved. Migrant workers arriving for the airport development project will be subject to a screening for HIV. Construction is said to take place over a 48-month period.
The company also considers developing a temporary runway to enable the use of a C-130 Hercules-type aircraft to facilitate quicker access to the site within 18 months of the beginning of construction.
Only four weeks after the approval for the airport to be constructed and years before operations would start, Geo. Robson & Co. (Conveyors) Ltd had already completed and shipped a baggage reclaim carousel for the airport. It will sit half inside the terminal and half outside for the baggage handlers to load with passengers' luggage. The company stated that with a 12 metre perimeter it is one of the smallest baggage reclaim carousels they have ever manufactured. Until the airport opens it will be used at St Helena's harbour to deliver baggage to passengers arriving by the RMS St Helena.
Read more about this topic: Saint Helena Airport
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