Construction of new helipad at Saba airport starts Monday

Construction com­pany Saba Roads will begin the excavation of the des­ignated area for the new helipad behind the apron at Juancho E. Yrausquin Air­port on Monday, August 6. The helipad will be con­structed with the same type of concrete that will be used to repave the airport runway. Construction of the helipad is scheduled to be finalized on Wednesday, August 22.

The Public Entity Saba re­minds the public of the lim­ited availability of parking space at the airport. The parking lot will be closed from Monday onward, but a drop off/pick-up location will remain available.

The public entity said it has received messages from concerned citizens about the transport of materi­als in preparation for the renovation of the airport runway. The Ministry of Infra­structure and Environ­ment, which is responsible for the execution of this project, has been informed about the concerns, and is currently discussing the matter with the contractor, the public entity said.

The renovation of the airport runway is a large and logistically-challenging project. The materials re­quired for the project need to be transported from the quarry at Fort Bay harbour to the airport. For efficien­cy reasons, the contractor is using two large dump trucks for this work.

The public entity asks the community for their under standing during the coming month in which the remain­ing transport is scheduled. The contractor is required to have all necessary mate­rials for repaving the run­way, with the exception of water, ready and stored at the airport before the reno­vation works start, to mini­mize the risk of delays. This means transport with the dump trucks is scheduled to be finalized ultimately Sep­tember 10, when the airport closes, and the construction work starts.

Transport is done dur­ing the hours in which the quarry at the harbour is open between 7:30am and 4:00pm. Because of the limited timeframe, transport has to continue throughout these hours in order to maintain the proj­ect schedule. However, the contractor was informed not to schedule any trans­port movements on Friday afternoon, because of an extra service at Zion’s till church.

Transport is always done by two dump trucks at a time, escorted by a car or truck in front with its haz­ard lights on, to ensure in­coming traffic is informed. For traffic safety, it is deemed important that the two trucks stay together on their route. Therefore, the public is requested not to come in between the two trucks. Also, road users are advised not to drive too closely behind the trucks. For some turns, the trucks have to back up a little. Throughout the coming weeks the island govern­ment will provide regular updates on the airport proj­ect and on the progress of the transport of materials.

The Daily Herald.