Demolition of interior of Airport Terminal begins

AIRPORT–Demolition works at Princess Juliana International Airport SXM are set to start today Monday. Airport management announced last week that they would start the works this week and assured the community that rebuilding the terminal building is priority.

Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (TEATT) Cornelius de Weever swung a sledgehammer this past weekend to symbolise the beginning of work, which includes the removal of the terminal building’s interior walls and fixtures which suffered severe damage from Category 5 Hurricane Irma in September. Operations at the terminal building had to be moved to the airside when the Airport reopened for commercial flights on October 10.

“As the demolition begins and a new page in history is being added, we can be proud of the redesign and reconstruction of our Airport that is about to begin,” said De Weever on Sunday.

According to the Airport management team, the terminal building structure held up firmly during the hurricane, so that will go untouched in the reconstruction work.
A clean-up was carried out in the preceding week. The water removal process is still ongoing in line with the demolition of the terminal building’s interior. A mould assessment will be conducted during the demolition to determine whether further mould remediation is necessary.

The demolition of the terminal building’s interior signals the start of the process before the reconstruction, explained Airport Chief Operations Officer (COO) Michel Hyman.
He added, “We have all been waiting for this moment eagerly so that the terminal building can be rebuilt and restored to its former glory as soon as possible. We apologise for the temporary inconvenience passengers and all our users and stakeholders have had to endure, and urge everyone to continue to exercise a little more patience as we push forward with returning the Airport to the high standards everyone has come to expect of it.”

The restoration of the building will be done by construction company Commodore N.V.

Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/73161-demolition-of-interior-of-airport-terminal-begins

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