Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/4427/-1/135/
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Blowing Point Harbour: A COMING PRIDE FOR ANGUILLA
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When the three new piers are fully completed, linked together and operational, the Blowing Point Harbour will be a pride of this island and its people and a delight to visitors travelling between Anguilla and St. Martin/St. Maarten. This of course is the first phase of a larger project which will later include other contracts for the upgrading of buildings and the development of the land side to provide for boutiques, other tourism facilities and for vehicle parking. Some land acquisition by Government will be necessary to facilitate part of the development work.
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Day trippers from St. Maarten to Anguilla
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Right now, two of the piers have been structurally completed and are being used notwithstanding that there is still some finishing to be done; and work on the third pier in the middle is in progress. The remaining old pier is to be demolished shortly. The construction of two bridges with hand rails for passengers is also part of the project.
The work is being done by Edgehill & Associates, a marine construction firm based in Barbados, which recently built a pier at Road Bay for small cargo boats, some of which had been operating at Blowing Point for a long time. The company has also built jetties at Rendezvous Bay and Island Harbour Bay and is keenly interested in bidding later for the proposed elaborate deep water harbour at Corito.
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Demolishing of pier on Tuesday and Wednesday
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“This project forms part of the first stage of the Anguilla Ports Development Project. Our contract involved two packages of work – one at Road Bay which began in July 2006 and was completed in October, and the other here at Blowing Point which commenced in October 2006 and is currently scheduled to be completed in June 2007,” said Jamie Edgehill, speaking on behalf of his father, David Edgehill, and the firm. The overall cost of the contract amounts to approximately US$ 4.8 million.
Jamie told The Anguillian in a recent interview that the company’s work at Blowing Point was on schedule. “So far, we are happy with the progress,” he went on. “Our main challenges have been logistical in the sense of working in a functioning ferry terminal… and we have to work very closely with the Port Manager to come up with a schedule which allows us to get our work done and also allows the ferries to come in because they are a very important means of transportation for Anguilla.”
Two of the jetties will be used exclusively for ferries and passengers. The other one will provide services for the boats. These services include electricity, water, gasoline and diesel. It will be possible however to use this pier for ferry and passenger movements if there is the demand.
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Western pier being completed
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Asked about the structure of the jetties, Jamie said: “They are based on a steel pile structure. There are three stages: driving the steel piles [into the seabed] and filling them with concrete in a cage; we then put pre-stressed concrete caps on them; and then we place slabs on the concrete caps to connect the jetty to give it its structure….then tie everything together. It is a very widely used system of constructing jetties. The advantages are relatively economical and quick. By using pre-cast members you probably save about 30% in terms of time. That’s why when we finished we would have constructed three jetties in less than nine months which, from a construction time-table is very quick.”
He was of the opinion that on completion the jetties would look very good and he hoped that the people of Anguilla would agree with him. He added that there was still the second phase involving the development of the land side and upgrading of buildings and facilities to be done by other contractors to make the Blowing Point Harbour the attractive area it should be.
“From a job satisfaction point of view it is very nice to come to a place like Anguilla and do a worthwhile infrastructural project that is going to be here for the next 40 or 50 years,” Jamie stated. “I think it is a very worthwhile project from the island’s point of view in that the passenger service is such an important means of getting people to the island. It actually about doubles the passenger volume to the airport. To be able to upgrade and build a spanking new port facility that the island can be proud of, gives you a sense of achievement.”
The pier project in Anguilla is Jamie’s fourth large undertaking. Among other projects, he was involved in the construction of a bridge in Bridgetown, Barbados, and the new Coast Guard jetty there.
He studied civil engineering in England. He then worked in London for some years before returning to the Caribbean in 2005 where he has been working mainly in Barbados.