Princess Juliana International Airport is another step closer to complying with the mandatory Runway End Safety Areas (RESA) required by international safety standards.
A new fisherman’s wharf to replace the old one that had to be demolished to extend the safety area is set for completion in four months. The first pile was driven for the wharf Monday March 23rd 2009 in the afternoon, under the watchful eyes of Airport President Eugene Holiday and Aviation Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams.
The wharf relocation further out into Simpson Bay lagoon greatly extends the safety area at the runway at the Simpson Bay end. Sheet piles will be driven to protect the wharf and the area will be compacted with sand already dredged up from the lagoon. MNO Vervat will construct the wharf with Independent Consulting Engineers (ICE) supervising the works. The wharf project costs about US $850,000.
Compliance with RESA requirements is a critical step that the airport has been working on since 2006, Holiday said at the site. Princess Juliana Airport will be one of only a few international airports in the Caribbean to be up-to-date with the safety regulations when the work, which includes rerouting of Airport Road, will be completed, Holiday said.
The rerouting of the road on the eastern, southern and northern shorelines will ensure that the airport has the required 150 metres on both ends of the runaway as outlined in RESA.
Wescot-Williams said meeting the RESA requirements is very important for the tourism-based island, because the airport is one of the main veins for visitors to access the island. She, like Holiday, commended land lessee David Martin Peterson for working with the airport on the project.
The Commissioner said the new wharf makes way for the airport to progress and will hopefully also be a stimulus for the waning fishing tradition in Simpson Bay and Cole Bay. Fishermen, she added, have complained that they are being pushed out of this trade for various reasons. The new wharf should provide new opportunities for a real St. Maarten tradition.
