Ferry Terminal shouldn’t cost more than $5M, says former BVIPA boss

The cost of the West End Ferry terminal project has come under more scrutiny, with political commentator and former Managing Director of the BVI Ports Authority Claude Skelton Cline insisting the facility’s reconstruction should not exceed $5 million.

The project, which aims to replace the terminal destroyed by hurricanes in 2017, has been delayed due to financial and logistical concerns. The Recovery and Development Agency (RDA) previously received bids of $64 million and $94 million—figures significantly above the initial estimates.

Speaking on his radio programme Honestly Speaking, Skelton Cline, who led the construction for the Tortola Pier Park, questioned the government’s handling of the project. “This is not rocket science, y’all. You’re spending days and weeks assessing. You sit up in a board meeting. What in God’s name are you assessing? We can’t afford none of what’s being proposed,” he stated.

Skelton Cline argued that such costs are unjustifiable.

“There’s no reason anything more than five million dollars need to be spent constructing a building at the West End ferry dock to accommodate all of the bodies, all of the agencies that need to function properly,” Skelton Cline said. “It’s a transient operation. Nobody’s going there to sleep, nobody’s going there to stay.”

The West End Ferry Terminal was one of the busiest in the territory, handling over 40 percent of sea arrivals before its destruction. The project’s redesign process sparked public debate, with an initial “organic and futuristic” concept being scrapped in favour of a “Classic Modern” design after community feedback.