Construction at the new multi-million dollar port in Little Bay has slowed again due to a delayed material shipment from the Dominican Republic.
Premier Veronica Dorsette-Hector, who serves as Minister of Infrastructure, Labour, Transportation, Energy and Ecclesiastical Affairs, shared the update in a brief progress report.
Speaking at the newly elected government’s first press conference on 4 November, she said she had received communication that same morning about the delay.
Local materials cannot be used because of the “chemical makeup of it” so they have to be imported from abroad, she explained.
“We encountered several challenges in the last couple of years, but we are going to keep on top of it and ensure that we advance it as quickly as possible,” the infrastructure minister said.
Silver lining
Dorsette-Hector said rather than see it as a negative, the additional time allows for plans to be finalised on the final makeup of the port, such as the shops and surroundings.
She added that it will also allow for residents to be trained to take up the jobs that will be made available on completion of the project.
“We cannot wait until the port is finished to start looking around for labour,” she told viewers of the live streamed meeting.
The labour minister said plans are in place to advance vocational courses in the Montserrat Community College.
During the meeting, Dorsette-Hector also said her ministry has learned of a large rock in the sea near the port called ‘a potato’ which is obstructing the passage of some of the larger vessels.
Discussions will be forthcoming about how to deal with that, she said.
Two years along
The groundbreaking at the site of the £35.4 million (EC$120 million) Montserrat Port Development Project took place over two years ago in June 2022.
It is being financed jointly by the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Fund and the European Development Fund.
Planned infrastructure works include the construction of an offshore jetty, new access road, dredging works and slope stabilisation.
In February, former deputy premier Samuel Joseph said, following several extensions to the development timeline, the new completion date would be 9 May. However, that deadline has come and gone.
In March, the team announced the transport of 320 caissons from the manufacturing site in Piper’s Pond to the site of the new pier in Little Bay.
And in May, the Montserrat Port Development Project team released updated renderings of what the completed port at Little Bay will look like.
The Port Authority was relocated to Little Bay from the former capital Plymouth in June 1997 after volcanic activity destroyed the port.
