The Republic of Dominica has announced the acquisition of 166ha of land for the construction of its first international airport.
The project is being developed by a company set up for the purpose, and will be financed from the island’s own funds.
Roosevelt Skerrit, Dominica’s prime minister, said: "The International Airport Development Company will have a shelf life for the duration of the construction of the airport. It will have a board comprising of 16 members that would cover a wide section of the society so that we have broad-based participation and involvement in the process."
When the project was announced in August 2020, Skerrit said: "We have placed the international airport as priority number one for the government. I am redirecting a lot of state resources in terms of human resources, engineers and surveyors, to the project."
Dominica reopened its borders to international visitors on 7 August, and has been relatively unaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Image: Douglas-Charles, completed in 1961, is presently Dominica’s main airport (Russell Watkins/DFID/CC BY 2.0)
