Above: Carriacou

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Grenada has engaged the state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company to execute the expansion of the Lauriston airport on the island of Carriacou.

The project would involve an upgrade and an expansion at Lauriston Airport; CHEC has already mobilized engineers on the ground in Carriacou, the government said.

Right now, the company is doing geotechnical studies to answer questions about the length of the runway, the terminal buildings and other issues.

The plan is to eventually give Carriacou the capability of receiving LIAT’s 72-seater aircraft, although for now studies are being undertaken to determine whether the runway can accommodate planes of that size.

Last week, experts from the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority visited Grenada to hold meetings with Grenadian and Chinese officials including Chinese aviation expert Lin Linsheng, who was tapped by CHEC to spearhead the project.

“This project will provide easier access for travel to and from Grenada, it will allow aircrafts to land during the night, it will allow passengers from international flights to come to Carriacou immediately and very importantly it will open up the door for investment and expansion in the tourism and agricultural industry ,” said Parliamentary Representative for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Elvin Nimrod. “It has been a quite while since Carriacou has had a project of this magnitude.”

China Harbour has undertaken a number of high-profile development and infrastructure projects across the Caribbean region in recent years.