Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer defended the government asphalt plant this month as opposition member Myron Walwyn raised questions about the mounting cost of operating the facility.
The exchange came in the House of Assembly on Feb. 13, when Mr. Walwyn (R-D6) asked Mr. Rymer a series of questions about the plant and the wisdom of purchasing it in the first place.
He started by asking for the cost of the facility, which Mr. Rymer said the government acquired for $1.3 million.
“This investment was intended to play a crucial role in supporting our major road paving initiatives across the territory, especially given the extensive repairs needed after hurricanes Irma and Maria,” the minister said.
Mr. Walwyn also asked if a capacity shortfall at the plant has delayed road resurfacing and if contracting a privately owned plant would have been cheaper.
In response, the minister stood by the government’s decisions, describing the Fish Bay plant as a successful operation that can produce 120 tons of asphalt per hour.
Outside help
The facility, he explained, has been operated on a “needs basis” by the Public Works Department since it was commissioned in 2023, but the PWD has needed outside help to keep it running reliably.
“It is no secret that since the commissioning the plant, this honorable House would have been aware of the operational challenges faced, including the subsequent health challenges of one of the workers at the plant,” Mr. Rymer said. “In order to carry out the approved works from April [2024], covering 4.5 miles of road, it was suggested and agreed that the asphalt plant be operated by an experienced firm.”
The partnership with the chosen firm — Nextius Group Ltd., which is part-owned by Virgin Islands contractor Dion Stoutt, according to PWD Director Jeremy Hodge — has been successful, the minister added.
“The operation of the government-owned asphalt plant has proven to be more cost-effective than outsourcing the asphalt production,” Mr. Rymer said. “In 2025, the government-owned asphalt plant, in collaboration with private contractors, successfully paved 2.8 miles of roadway in just 17 days, demonstrating the efficiency of this partnership model.”
Mr. Hodge told the Beacon this week that this 2.8 miles of asphalting cost just under $800,000, including fuel, the cost of the firm, materials and labour.
He previously told the Beacon in 2023 that hiring a private company to pave a stretch of road 24 feet wide and three inches thick would cost about $1 million per mile.
Outsourced training
In the HOA, Mr. Rymer said Nextius was also training PWD personnel in the skills needed to operate the asphalt plant.
The price of that training, he said, was $4,230 per day for 30 days, including labour and expenses for materials and fuel.
The minister added that government was seeking to extend the relationship with the company 20 days past its initial 30-day arrangement.
Upon hearing the cost for the training, Mr. Walwyn notified the House how many days of training it would take to match government’s initial investment in acquiring the plant.
“Madam Speaker, I did some big calculations,” Mr. Walwyn said. “If they stay here for 307 days, at $4,000 [per day], that is going to be the cost they spent on the asphalt plant. Would it make sense then, Madam Speaker?”
Nextius’ experience
This week, Mr. Hodge told the Beacon that Nextius operates a similar asphalt plant overseas, and he echoed the minister’s claim that the partnership has been a success.
“[Mr. Stoutt’s] company has the experience with working with our specific plant, which piqued our interest,” Mr. Hodge said. “So he was the one that was successful in the bid to work along with our team to operate the plant.”
The firm’s main role at the asphalt facility is managing spare parts and materials, according to the PWD director.
“One of the main challenges we were having with the plant is that if one little, specialised part goes wrong with the plant and we don’t have it in stock, [we] have to wait six to eight weeks to get it here, and the plant would be down during that time,” Mr. Hodge said.
“It’s not so much that the team doesn’t know how to operate the plant: It’s that … if something goes wrong that it’s not there, we have to order [it].”
To ensure a consistent flow of asphalt under those circumstances, Mr. Stoutt’s firm was hired to keep the Fish Bay facility fed, Mr. Hodge said.
“With this company working along with us, they have, basically, ease of access to the parts,” he added. “These guys are so experienced that even when something goes goes wrong and they don’t have the part readily available, they were able to make adjustments to keep it going.”
The firm’s 20-day extension, he added, will allow it to assist with paving in West End.
Growing pains
Besides the recent issues, the asphalt plant faced delays and other obstacles for several years before it was assembled and commissioned in 2023 by the Swiss firm Ammann.
In late 2019, equipment for the facility arrived in the territory, but the project stalled while planners struggled to secure a new site after the originally planned site by the quarry in Fish Bay proved too “dusty,” officials said previously.
Unable to find a new site, they proceeded with the Fish Bay plan.
This week, Mr. Hodge told the Beacon that concerns over dust have remained largely that: concerns.
“We did have our concerns with [the site] having so much dust, getting into the little fine areas of the plant and what have you,” Mr. Hodge said. “But so far we’ve been doing our best, and we have [Nextius] here to actually show us the best ways we can maintain it.”
Site options limited
The reality, he added, is that asphalt plants are dirty, and there aren’t very many places to put one on Tortola.
“The plant could only be in an industrialised area, regardless of how efficient our plant is,” Mr. Hodge said.
“At the end of the day, it’s an asphalt plant. It can’t be in an area where you live or anything like that.”
During times of high quarry output, Mr. Hodge said, his employees wear personal protective equipment like respirators and goggles.
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