The owner of the company carrying out the reconstruction of one of the piers at the Charlestown waterfront says work is progressing apace and the project should be completed in a few weeks.
Regiwell Francis of St. Kitts Marine Works Ltd told Freedom FM that over the past few days the company has been able to quickly demolish the old pier and begin laying the pies for the new structure.
“We mobilized on the 19th [December] from the boat yard and took the barge with the equipment over to Nevis. In one day we offloaded all the piles and we demolished 80% of the pier; we’re leaving a little piece there for us to use for access back and forth. Over the next few days we’re going to be clearing out the debris and installing piles and then prepping to place the casings over them.
“Presently you’ll see the piles sticking up out of the water as we put in the foundation of the new pier. Once the piles are in we put the slabs on top which creates the base of the pier. At that point we’ll put more steel on top and then we cast the entire pier on the top tying in to the precast which we did before. They want the concrete all the way down to the water and with the pile caps and the slabs it will make construction, fast, safe and secure.”
“We’re really excited; we’re running almost ahead of schedule at the rate at which we’re going. We’re trying to get the pier complete very very early in January or the late part of December.”
The waterfront pier, which is used for docking cruise ship tenders and other private vessels, was severely damaged and rendered unusable by the passage of adverse weather two years ago.
The project, pegged at US$325,000, commenced in November.
Nevis Premier and NIA minister of Tourism Mark Brantley said he is eager to have to the project come to fruition especially as Nevis is expecting an increase in the number of cruise visits this season.