The Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) is making significant investments in improving aerodrome facilities across the country.
Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Robert Montague, in making the disclosure, said that at the Lionel Densham Airport in St. Elizabeth “we are about to spend J$100 million to overlay the runway and to put in a little terminal building”.
“That is our investment in opening up the South Coast tourism so that the Appleton Estate tour and all the boutique hotels will have a boon when we complete spending on that,” he said.
In addition, he noted that J$10 million was spent recently to put in a pilot’s lounge. Painting was also done and work is ongoing to complete the fencing at the facility.
Minister Montague was speaking at the recent handover of the police post at the Ian Fleming International Airport
He informed that at Tinson Pen, some J$20 million has been invested. “We did some work on the runway, we put in a pilot’s lounge, we also also bought some new firefighting equipment at Tinson Pen and we are moving to complete the fencing along the train line,” Minister Montague said.
In addition, the runway at the Negril aerodrome was overlaid at a cost of J$40 million. A fire hall was also built to facilitate comfortable accommodations for the airport’s fire personnel, along with a kitchen and dormitory.
Meanwhile, Minister Montague said that discussions are “proceeding smoothly” regarding leasing of the Holland Estate aerodrome from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
This is to facilitate investment in the airstrip, thereby “opening up air transport… for the plans the Government has for the Holland area with regard to Agriculture”, the Minister pointed out.
In addition to the aerodromes, improvements continue at the airports, with some J$550 million being spent at Norman Manley International “in doing some expansion work and also doing the seawall protection”.
He indicated that corrections are being done to prevent a recurrence of an incident in 2009, where an aircraft overshot the runway and landed on the other side of the road.
“We are correcting that and protecting the end of the runway… and also extending the runway… and doing some other improvements there,” the Minister said.
In addition, he noted that approximately US$70 million is being spent at the Sangster International Airport on an ongoing project to improve and extend the runway and to expand the arrivals hall.
Source: https://jis.gov.jm/aaj-making-significant-investments-in-improving-aerodromes/