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MINISTER PICKERSGILL BREAKS GROUND FOR PHASE 2 OF SANGSTER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Minister Robert Pickersgill (left), Mr. Dennis Morrison, chairman, Airports Authority of Jamaica (centre) and Mr. Jorge Salas of MBJ Airports Ltd. break ground for expansion works at the Sangster International Airport.

Transport Minister Hon. Robert Pickersgill on Friday, February 17, 2006, broke ground for phase 2 of the Sangster International Airport expansion programme.

This aspect of the programme comes on the heels of the opening of the new concourse building of the airport in December and according to Minister Pickersgill, will further boost the airport’s claim to being a first world facility.

The scheduled start of Phase 2 was January 11, based on an agreement between Airports Authority of Jamaica and MBJ Ltd. It consists of :
• A new ground transport hall
• A new departure security area
• Re-development of the departure check-in and airline offices areas
• One additional gate at the north-east corner of the existing building
• Development of outgoing baggage and departure check-in facilities using a ‘common use terminal equipment’ operational philosophy.

The Phase 2 Project is divided into six stages:

Stage 1– January – March 2006
In this phase, the construction of a west substation at the northwest corner of the existing terminal building will take place.

Stage 2-January – December 2006
This stage will see the construction of the south extension to the existing building which will house the re-located ground transportation hall and the customs and baggage claim area.

Stage3-November 2006 – July 2007
Within this stage, a new building will be constructed in the area of the existing police station. This area will house the outbound immigration and security checkpoint. The vertical transportation from the departure concourse on the first level will be developed as will the installation of gate number 7.

Stage 4-August - December 2007
The installation of the new outbound baggage handling equipment and the re-development of existing retail departure into departure check-in counters on the ground floor will be done in this stage. Attendant to this will be the re-development of the first floor departure holding lounge at gates five and six.

Stage 5-December 2007 – April 2008
The re-development of the departure check-in currently used by Northwest and Air Jamaica on the ground floor and the first floor departure lounge area at gates three and five will take centre stage during this period.
Stage 6-April – July 2008
The re-development of the departure check-in currently used by Air Canada and the above first floor departures lounge area at gates one and two will receive attention in this stage. The final re-development is a domestic terminal facility at the west end of the international terminal building.

Cost of Phase 2 of the project will be US$51M which is US$2M less than phase 1. ASHTROM Construction Ltd. will do the contracting duties on the project.

On completion of phase 2, there will be an additional 5,800 sq. metres of retail commercial space –this will accommodate 55 retail and service outlets making it the largest in the Caribbean. The increase capacity of the airport will future move it into the echelons of first world facilities as it will have the ability to handle 9 million passengers per year, from the current 3.2 million.

Speaking at the function Minister Pickersgill said, “The government and people of Jamaica are really very excited by this project. After all, this one of our portals to the rest of world and we know that there are untold positives associate with the successful completion of the project as necessary to Jamaica as oxygen is to sustenance of life. The social, economic and culture landscape of the island will definitely receive a boost when this airport joins the ranks of first class facilities –we already know that brand Jamaica is very potent, this is one more reason to make even more so.”