 Hello. Good day to you. Welcome to Issues and Answers. I am your host today, Peter Lewis, and today's program features the World Bank sponsored Caribbean Regional Air Transport Connectivity Project. This is a World Bank funded project which seeks to increase the resilience of our airport infrastructure. I am very happy today that we have members of the Project Implementation Unit and they are going to give us some wonderful insight about this most exciting project. Greetings to you. Mr. Mendesi, you are the project manager and my first question to you is, what is this Regional Air Transport Connectivity Project? Mr. Lewis, as the name implies, it's a regional project with partner territories of Haiti and Grenada. The St. Lucia component is captured in the Government of St. Lucia and Slasper's vision of a redevelopment of the HIE, Urinal International Airport and the accompanying infrastructure. The Ministry of Finance is the low contracting agency. Slasper is the implementation unit and they have set up the PIU for which we are part to implement the project. The main objective of that component is the resilience and sustainability of the airfield and the attendant facilities such as the air rescue and firefighting services, what we commonly call Crash Fire Hall or the fire station there. And it also has the rehabilitation and or reconstruction of the entire runway. And Mr. Ruff will give you some more details on that. It also involves a complete replacement of the navigation system, a ground lighting system, and also some institutional strengthening of Slasper and the agencies in which it conducts business, for example, Department of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Ports and Ecco, Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation. So whatever linkages Slasper has with those agencies as far as the runway and the supervision and the management of the runway, this project will look at it and see how we can strengthen that project. Okay, thank you so very much for that Mr. Mondiz. You definitely set us on a good platform. So I turn my attention to Mr. Johannes Ruff, who is the Airport Infrastructure Specialist. So runway infrastructure upgrade, what can we envision that to be? So Mr. Lewis, the runway is the most important single component of the airport, right? If there isn't a runway, there isn't an airport. And so the runway at Youanora International is fairly old. It's got a long history going back over 80 years, but most recently about 30 years ago it was extended. And that's a long time for a runway to be in operation. So it's time, times have changed, dimensions are different these days, aircraft are different. So there are a number of changes that have to be made to make this runway compliant to the standards that we have nowadays. In addition to that, the runway itself is well worn out, so it needs more than just a little bit of a repair. It's being repaired obviously to be kept in operation, but it's time now to intervene and to do some major work to the runway. That would include potentially reconstructing parts of the pavement, maybe substantial overlays of areas, drainage on the sides of the runway will have to be reconstructed, culverts rebuilt, and then the strip, the green grassy bits around the runway, that needs to be widened to be compliant. And then all of this has to be done in such a way that it accounts for the greater amounts of rainfall that we're having these days. This goes back to the resilience part of the project. That's quite a bit, and from my memory of what it is, you're talking about the airfield, this is the terminal, the terminal is the building, and the airfield is the runway and everything outside of the building on what is called the sterile side. The airside, well yes, we call it the airside, and it's sterile to a degree, yes of course it is because access is controlled, but it's everything basically where the aircraft themselves operate. Thank you, thank you so very much for that. So we have two of the gentlemen speak, and we have a lady now on this, and welcome, Mrs. Shilin Simons James, and she's the environmental and social specialist. This is a long term, but I won't make sure I get it right. So we're talking about construction, we're talking about new and making things better. How does the environmental and social side, in terms of your portfolio, how does that fit in? Before we go into exactly that part of it, I want to give you a brief synopsis of what the ESF is. The World Bank has begun implementation of an environment and social framework, also known as the ESF, and that started in 2018, and it's for all funded projects, investments by the bank. It protects people, it protects environment. Mr. Mondesi spoke a little bit about it earlier. It also looks to increase capacity and capacity building of institutions and agencies. Any investment the bank puts in is country driven, so as solutions we take responsibility and ownership of the project, and as well it speaks to transparency, accountability, and most importantly it emphasizes public participation. So it's very key that not just environment, people and environment, but getting the views of people on project activities. So it is a more holistic approach? It is a holistic approach. Yes, it's not just taking one component, but looking at people, because people are an integral part of environmental management, and it's key to get their views, it's key to protect them, and it's key to ensure the involvement they have in activities, especially the bank promotes in their projects. Okay, so that's part of the World Bank Development Agenda in terms of how it does its business. Wonderful, wonderful. I go back to the project lead in Mr. Mondesi here. So Mr. Mondesi, we've gotten the what? What are the expected outcomes? What do we hope to achieve by engaging in this project? Okay, so we hinted essentially that it's an old runway, quote unquote. There are new aircrafts coming on the scene, some that we know now. Tomorrow they will not be flying into St. Lucia. It's what we can do with our infrastructure to accommodate that change in environment. And so we speak to the resilience and sustainability. Sustainability and resilience not only from an operational perspective, but also by climate changes concern. The buzzword. We would have appreciated in the last couple of years that when it rains, we have heavier rainfall. We are more intense rainfall. And how does our infrastructure stand up? We stand or is quickly brought back into use after an event. We have the coastline and wave action increasing. And so that inundates or encroaches on the runway, on the eastern end of our runway, we need to ensure that our runway can withstand or brought back into use as quickly as possible should an event occur. It's going to be a very challenging project for the simple reason that we cannot close the runway. So this work has to be done in flight windows. And that means that we open for flights and then at a certain point we close down and then the contractor is moving. So it's going to be about six to seven years of work. Intense work. There are going to be some disruptions. And we are going to ensure that our stakeholders are informed. We are going to ensure that our infrastructure is resilient and sustainable and can accommodate any future events or whatever the flying aviation sector in terms of aircrafts, requirements that is compliant and it can be operational. So in terms of keeping in touch with our stakeholders and so forth, I'm going back to Mrs. James. So keeping in touch with our stakeholders and somebody who are the stakeholders, talking about the airport, talking about what works. Who are we really seeking to speak to in terms of stakeholders in terms of such a project? When you think of the airport and the airport sector, it's a wide range of stakeholders. You have persons, the other service providers, you have persons, you have a community, you have residents, you have persons at the airport who do business within the operation of the airport. So it's a broad spectrum of persons. Private sector, NGOs, CBOs, and we don't want to exclude anybody. Technically, it's everybody because everybody will utilize the airport at some point in time. So there will be some involvement or some interaction with the airport from our general stakeholders. So the genesis of this is to reach out to every single person. You have persons that are very close to the activities around the airport. So initially, you'd want to get those persons involved first, have discussions with them, present the project to them, get feedback from them and how this may impact them. And then we devise different methods and different modes of reaching our pals, our public at large, as you refer to them. So there are different modes and different activities of meeting our stakeholders. And as I mentioned earlier, key to implementation of any World Bank project is to have stakeholder engagement. The World Bank has ten standards and the last standard ten speaks to stakeholder engagement and information disclosure. So part of this project throughout has been involving our stakeholders. We've met with civil society. We've met with technical agencies within the government of St. Lucia. We've met with various agencies within government, statutory agencies of government. We have presented the project to them. We have gotten their feedback and we're keeping them abreast of information as the project evolves and that is a genesis of how this project team sees implementation of the CatCorp project. It's country-driven, country ownership and that is our genesis. I like something you said and she spoke of pals, public at large, which includes us. So right here on issues and answers, the St. Lucia public, you got it first. So stay tuned with us as we continue to delve a little deeper into this most exciting undertaking. Welcome back and remember we're here with the members of the project implementation unit for the Caribbean Regional Air Transport Connectivity Project. Now this project is a project of the World Bank in collaboration with the government of St. Lucia through the Ministry of Finance. However, the implementing agency is the St. Lucia Air and Seaports Authority, SLASPO. So we were having some exciting discussion and for you our pals, meaning our public at large. Thank you so very much for that. This is James. I'm going to stick to that. Mr. Ioannis, we were talking about resilience. I heard talk of the fire hall or the fire station on the airport, which is what I know it had. What exactly is the aim here and what are we trying to achieve? So we have, as you said, a fire station on the airport. The airport, airfield rescue and firefighting services. It's a very important part of the safe operation of an airfield. There are a number of fire tenders there and there's also personnel that's stationed in that building. And what it has to do is whenever there's operations on the airfield, there are people in the control room of that fire station that are observing what's happening on the airfield so that they can respond to any fire explosion, whatever it is, within a matter of few minutes. And up to now, the fire station at UNORA has had a control room, which is at ground level, which doesn't afford full view of the airfield. So what we are doing as part of CATCOP is we are going to construct a control tower, an elevated control room, so that the duty officers can actually have a full view of the entire airfield at all times. In addition to that, we are expanding the fire station. We're constructing a training room because you'll appreciate that firefighters need constant training to stay on top of developments and just to keep current with their knowledge. So we need a training room for that. They were a little bit short on accommodations. There are additional rooms being built. And then last but not least, we're also installing some water tanks so that we can actually store additional water. We haven't had that in the past. This time we're going to put 30,000 gallons of storage at the fire station. We're going to use rainwater harvesting from the roof of the training centre to keep those tanks full. Oh, so it's sounding like that would be the place to work very soon? Very soon, yes. I cannot help but go back to Mrs. James because you spoke of speaking with stakeholders. So you said, speak to us, we speak to you. So if this project is going on and I have a concern, do I just come to you? I just address you, I say to you, I don't like the fact that this is making too much noise or that there's too much dust or something. What exactly happens? There is an established grievance redress mechanism that will take into account exactly what you spoke of. Someone having a concern as it relates to the activities of the project affecting them. So we call them a project affected person. And so what it is, is that this individual will contact the project implementation unit. And there is a process by which this information is recorded, is investigated, it is resolved. And there are various steps to which this person can submit that information. They can do it to the PIU, the Project Implementation Unit via email. They can do it by telephone. Fax machines still exist, so they can do it by fax. It can also be done in person. But importantly, if someone wants to remain anonymous in this process, by just to give information of a concern, that can be done anonymously. And there is a process by which, like I mentioned, this issue can be addressed. So there are three tiers to our grievance redress mechanism. The first tier is addressed within the PIU. So the issue is investigated and addressed within the Project Implementation Unit. Secondly, there is a grievance redress committee, and then that is further elevated. If the issue cannot be resolved at that first level, the PIU, it is then elevated to the grievance redress committee. The person, the individual, is brought in. If the individual wants to remain anonymous, then it is resolved at that level. All documentation is, all information is taken, documented, presented to the committee. And then if no resolution happens at that point, that's a second tier, we have a third quasi fourth tier. That third tier is with the GM, the general manager of Slasper. And if it cannot be resolved at that level, but we hope at some point, the issues get resolved very quickly. There is that fourth tier of the legal system. And we're really hoping that none of our issues or the concerns of the project affected persons actually reach to the court level. We're hoping that all issues can be addressed and amicably, and the resolution can be favorable for both parties. Wonderful, wonderful. But the main fact that that exists, that's a bit transformational for us in terms of our projects. So thank you so very much for that. But Mr. Roth spoke of this upgrade for the air fire rescue. Yeah, it's kind of long. When exactly can we see that happen, Mr. Mondays? When the work start on that and what level are we at? Well, we can say it has started. The contractor is mobilizing. And within a week or two, they will be on site. They're already on island. And they have commenced operations. We have in some kickoff meetings this week, meeting with our stakeholders to inform them of the start of this project, introducing them to the staff of the contractor and showing that we're in compliance with the regulations of slasper, because it's part of that sterile area where security levels are higher than normal. And they have to be in conformity with those levels. So we have started and work will begin within a week or two on site. Oh, nice, nice, nice. But Mr. Roth spoke, to me Mr. Roth is dealing with all the exciting things, the things that even I as a child growing up, all these, he said about writing. You spoke about the strip itself. So can we imagine a reconfiguration of what we see now? It's not going to be a reconfiguration per se. The runway is where it is and it's where it's always going to be. You'll appreciate that flat land of that sort of size is at a premium. And we're not going to put it anywhere else. We're going to put seven and a half meter shoulders down each side, paved shoulders, which we haven't had before. So that means the runway will then be a total of 60 meters wide instead of 45. But it'll be exactly where it is now. The designs are not yet done. The consultants are working on the analysis right now. And we may have to extend the runway a little bit to the west. But obviously that would come at a very high cost. So if it's all possible, we'd avoid that. But by and large, it'll stay where it is. The strip itself is 150 meters wide at the moment. So 75 either side of the runway. So we have the centerline of the runway. It has to go to 280 total width. So there will be some work further out. In fact, the whole of the strip will require regrading to facilitate the drainage, effective drainage, because the idea will be to get the water off the runway more quickly. There has been, as you know, a bit of ponding that takes place during heavy rain events. And it's one of the project objectives to minimize that. And to do that, we'd have to do some re-profiling of the existing strip. All right. Justin, you're saying that, Mr. Roth, I can imagine we are working towards a newer and better runway facility. And that in itself is great. I would like to let our pals, meaning the public at large, know that we are here speaking with the Project Implementation Unit, members of the Project Implementation Unit for the Caribbean Regional Air Transport Connectivity Project, the St. Lucia Edition. And it is a regional project sponsored by the World Bank. And we will continue, we hope to have you here with us pretty often as the project proceeds. You said it is a seven-year project and to get as much information as possible. But in moving, Mrs. James, you're closing words. What would you like people to know and how would you like them to embrace this project? Just one person to know that they are considered in the implementation of this project, not just the beneficiaries of the project. The workers are considered in this project. Their concerns will be heard in this project. And so it's not an exclusion of people and environment or put in favoritism on either one. Both will be considered, the protection of persons, the protection of environment, and keeping them informed and their inclusion and their participation. So is that involvement that you want persons to know that you will be a part of this project, not be there physically, but you are considered in the project. Okay. Mr. Roth, your parting words, what is your hope for the project? Well, I think it's a fantastic project. I mean, it's timely. We have to fix this runway now, but I'm really looking forward to getting into it and getting that done. I think realistically speaking, other than the construction of the fire station, the physical work on the ground will probably start next year because it will take all of this year to do the designs and get the requisite approvals and regulatory approvals as well. But it will be a good project. Time is now. Okay, good. Good stuff. And Mr. Paul Mendesi, project manager, not coordinator, thank you for that. Your parting words? There's a lot more to the project than what we would have said. And you are coming back? And we are coming back. There's a whole new air navigation system that we put in in conjunction with the government of San Lucia. Doesn't say that this project will not have any disruptions. While we reach out to stakeholders, we try to mitigate the risks on this project. There will be inconveniences. There will be things that happen that we have no control given the magnitude of this project. For me, most interesting on this project is what the PIU has been able to accomplish in terms of capacity building of our local, say, San Lucia people. Let's give you two scenarios. One, we did our topographical survey using drones and there was a sensitization to land surveyors, those in the Ministry of Planning to how you use that technology. We're going to be using what they call a falling weight deflectometer. It came all the way from Columbia to do some geotechnical studies and we're going to invite engineering association others to see how that technology. So there's this capacity building associated with this project where we can transfer knowledge and technology to our local citizenry. And I'm very excited about that. The team has been working to ensure that this is done and there will be other opportunities going forward for similar interactions. Okay, wonderful, wonderful. So thank you so very much for being with us and thank you so very much viewers for staying with us on issues and answers. Remember that it is the Caribbean Regional Air Transport Connectivity Project sponsored by the World Bank in collaboration with the government of San Lucia for the Ministry of Finance and implemented by the San Lucia Air and Seaports Authority. We hope to invite our panelists back as we keep you up to date with this ever exciting updates. All the best.