After more than 15 years of broken promises and false starts, the future of the long-delayed West End ferry terminal has been thrown into serious doubt once again after private-sector bids for the project came in massively over budget.
The Recovery and Development Agency, which is now overseeing the project, had estimated the cost of the terminal at $15.5 million, but the two bids opened Friday were more than four and six times that amount, respectively.
A consortium of the Virgin Islands firms Metro Construction and Todman Construction put in an offer of $63,945,250.27, while their Canada-based rival Aecon Global Services Inc. bid $93,725,660.17.
The sealed bids were opened by RDA Director of Procurement John Primo, who said at the opening ceremony that the agency’s budget for the terminal was $15,532,000.
This week, Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley raised concerns about the viability of the project.
“We are still committed to the project, but we can’t do it for that price,” he told the Beacon.
Mr. Wheatley, who is leading a trade mission to east Asia this week, added that costs need to come down before the government can proceed.
“The project will have to be scoped to budget,” he said. “The Ministry of Communications and Works will provide the appropriate level of guidance on the way forward.”
Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer apologised for any frustration caused by the announcement.
“In collaboration with the RDA, BVI Ports Authority and other key stakeholders, we are conducting a thorough review of the project’s scope and requirements,” Mr. Rymer said in a Monday statement. “This includes exploring value engineering opportunities and revising the size and scope of the terminal.”
The RDA also released a statement on Monday, noting that “market conditions, cost fluctuations and global economic factors can influence project estimates” but acknowledging that the bids had prompted the agency to meet with the ministry right away to consider reducing the project’s size.
“The RDA will provide a further update to the current procurement process within the next week,” the agency promised in the Monday statement.
In the RDA’s evaluation of the technical merits of the bids, the Metro/Todman bid received a score of 36, while the pricier Aecon bid was rated 46.29.
Both bidders declined to comment.
Procurement hurdles
The terminal project is slated to be funded through part of the $65 million Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Loan that the government obtained from the Caribbean Development Bank after hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
But the procurement process has faced various hurdles in recent years.
In May 2023, the RDA launched an initial prequalification process, and nine firms responded.
But the RDA and CDB reviewed the submissions and determined that none of them met the requirements. As a result, all nine firms were disqualified.
Relaxed criteria
In August 2023, the RDA relaunched the process under relaxed criteria approved by the CDB. This time, four of nine bidders prequalified.
“I am particularly pleased to highlight that three local firms (one standalone applicant and two firms within a joint-venture application) were successful in the second round of the prequalification process,” Mr. Rymer said in October 2023 in the House of Assembly. “This underscores the ability of our local contractors to succeed in the competitive bidding processes.”
Mr. Rymer also said at the time that the full tender process would begin in early 2024. That didn’t happen as planned, but on July 30 the CDB approved bidding documents that finally allowed the process to proceed, the RDA said at the time.
Four shortlisted firms were issued bid documents the same day, and they were set to take part in a site visit and bidders’ conference ahead of their deadline to submit bids by Oct. 25.
Deadline bumped
On Oct. 18, however, the Oct. 25 deadline was bumped to Jan. 17 of this year.
“This extension has been granted to provide the shortlisted bidders with additional time to properly review the detailed specifications in order to submit comprehensive proposals in accordance with the project requirements,” the RDA announced last November, adding that bids received after the new deadline would not be considered.
Last month, the RDA announced that it had received two bids when it opened technical submissions for review as the first part of a “two-part envelope system.”
The financial proposals were opened separately on Friday.
Decades of delays
Even before the recent procurement hurdles, earlier plans to build a new West End ferry terminal had been plagued with delays as well.
By the time Hurricane Irma destroyed the previous terminal in 2017, successive governments had already been promising a new facility for more than a decade.
The largest plan was proposed in 2010 under the then-Virgin Islands Party government in which Andrew Fahie, who then represented West End and the rest of the First District, served as minister of education and culture.
That plan called for a 75,000-square-foot facility with cost estimates of over $40 million.
But after the National Democratic Party came to power in 2011, then-Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool said the project would be scaled back dramatically.
In 2013, he proposed a facility costing just under $5 million, but those plans never got off the ground either.
In 2014, the BVI Ports Authority issued a tender notice seeking a $3 million terminal in West End, but no updates followed before Irma.
After Irma
About four months after Irma, then-premier Dr. Orlando Smith said the VI branch of international architecture firm OBMI had offered to donate its time towards drawing up architecture and engineering designs for a new facility.
But a new VIP administration took office in February 2019 with Mr. Fahie at the helm, and OBMI was not mentioned two months later when RDA officials announced a plan to partner with a private donor who would cover at least half the cost of a 27,000-square-foot, multi-level building with the capacity to process at least 200 passengers per hour and two ferries at once.
That collaboration, however, also fell through without explanation.
Temporary terminal
Meanwhile, a temporary terminal was officially opened in August 2019, and in July 2020 government announced new plans to use a portion of the $65 million CDB recovery loan to build the terminal.
But scant information was released until August 2021, when Mr. Fahie announced that a $1 million contract was awarded to the German firm INROS for the design and construction management of the project.
He promised a new ferry terminal within three years. At the time, officials also promised to engage with the community in ensuring the design of the terminal fits the territory’s needs.
After multiple community meetings, government revealed a “futuristic and organic” design in February 2022.
However, the RDA later walked back the plan after receiving negative feedback.
Instead, it invited the public to vote on one of three designs.
The new winning design — themed “classic modern” — was unveiled in December 2022, after which the latest bidding process got under way.
Officials have said the new terminal would be 42,000 square feet and would have the capacity to process up to 200 passengers per hour, or 200,000 passengers per year.
Rushton Skinner contributed to this report.
British Caribbean News