January 2017 | Business View Caribbean

32 33 we first had to excavate three mountains and fill up two very large valleys. This was still the best site, but it was an expensive site to prepare.” “We got substantial financial support from Taiwan,” Matthias continues. “They’ve given us loans and grants,mainly to assist with the construction of the termi- nal building. We got $10 million fromTrinidad and Tobago, one of our CARICOM brothers; they recog- nized that we needed to develop our tourism sector. They never The International Airport Development Company Limited asked us for anything in return. We got some help from Libya, Iran,Mexico, Georgia, and Turkey, or as our Prime Minister called them ‘The Coali- tion of the Willing.’And they have assisted us in such a way, that with the resources we were able to raise both fromselling lands and from raising commercial loans on very good terms,we are able to deliver this project to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.” Now that the new airport is just weeks away from opening and tourism to St. Vincent and the Grenadines is expected to escalate,Matthias says that the government has indicated its interest in workingwith the country’s private sector to increase the number of available hotel rooms. “Because without an increase in the number of rooms,we are not going to achieve the benefits that we hope to see from the investments in the airport,”he says. “These things are not going to happen overnight, but asmore andmore businesses recognize the opportunity,you’re going to have locals investing in small hotels,andwe expect to see some of the hotel chains expressing stronger interest in St. Vincent. Remember, before, you could hardly expect a fairly large hotel chain to be established in St. Vincent. If I invest in a big hotel in St. Vincent, how am I going to get people there? But that problem has now been solved by the government making the investment in the infrastructure. Now, what we expect is that the business people will see the Proud to suPPort the InternatIonal aIrPort develoPment ComPany lImIted argyle InternatIonal aIrPort fIrefIghters Ottley Hall, P.O. Box 430, Kingstown, St. Vincent Office: (01-784) 456-2590 Fax : (01-784) 485-6869 fcl@vincysurf.com “We do it right the first time!”