by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:42 PM ET, Thu July 10, 2014
Photo courtesy of British Virgin Islands Tourism Board.
The British Virgin Islands Port Authority (BVIPA) has secured a $35 million loan to help fund a $52 million expansion of the Tortola cruise ship pier, according to local press reports. BVIP officials signed an agreement last week with First Caribbean International Bank, according to the Virgin Islands Daily News website.
Construction on the new pier is scheduled to begin in August. The expansion will include the extension, strengthening and widening of the existing Tortola pier, and incorporate the development of a boardwalk, the enhancement of the excursion dock facility, in addition to dredging and land reclamation.
The re-developed pier will also feature a five-acre land-side development with commercial, retail, entertainment and green spaces, according to BVIPA. Work on the expansion began in May, with the creation of a new staging area for taxis and some demolition work, according to Claude Skelton-Cline, BVIP's managing director.
Earlier this year BVIP announced cruise passenger traffic agreements with Disney Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line that will bring an additional 425,000 annual visitors to the territory by 2015. The British Virgin Islands hosted 340,000 cruise ship passengers in 2013, down from 571,000 in 2008, a decline officials say is due to an inability to accommodate larger cruise ships.
The project will create "a unique and modern cruise pier facility that delivers a memorable, world-class and environmentally compatible sustainable development," according to a BVIP statement.
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