“Teamwork makes great dreams come true.”
This was the resounding message from the Solomon Islands Ports Authourity (SIPA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eranda Kotelawala at the commissioning of the State-Owned Enterprise’s (SOE’s) multi-million-dollar seaport passenger terminal- Millennium Terminal – last Thursday.
The seaport domestic passenger terminal built over period of a little more than 22 months at the cost of a little more than SBD 100 million, is the first of such facility in the country and the biggest in the South Pacific region. It was built to Australian and New Zealand building standards.
Further to believing in the dynamics of teamwork to achieve anything, let alone Solomon Ports’ development goals, Mr Kotelawa has faith in the ingenuity of Solomon Islanders to deliver the project as demonstrated by the engagement of local contractors, except for the prefabricated material contractor from the Foshan Skyplanet.
Speaking to the media at the commissioning of the state-of-the-art facility located in the Point Cruz domestic wharf vicinity, Mr Kotelawala said, “I’m actually really proud as part of the team and as I always say, team work always makes great dreams come true.”
“This is actually a milestone, a significant momentum of progress that we made as team for the last few years. And as I have alluded to in my speech, this magnificent building was funded by Solomon Ports and designed and constructed by Solomon Islanders. That’s the beauty of it.
“The only overseas specialist engagement in the project was that of Daisy Yang from the Foshan Skyplanet. Daisy prefabricated most parts of the building – building structures, roof and cladding. This fantastic roof is specifically designed to withstand strong winds and cyclone. Of course, we are not aircraft engineers, but we do have some knowledge and were able to design a roof like that of an aircraft wing for the purpose of avoiding the roof of the building been blown off by strong wind gusts and cyclones.”
He said after the Solomon Ports Board with Johnny Sy as the Chair and Mike Wate as the Deputy Chair approved the architectural design, work on the project commenced under the guidance of his ‘great dream’ team at Solomon Ports.
“After the board approved the architectural plan, we got the other contractors – the building contractor, electoral and air conditioning contractor, plumbing contractor. we worked for the last almost like 20 months to complete this building but it was almost like two years putting in place doing the designing and doing the ground work, you know the construction, electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, all the little things, all the beautification, everything took more than 20 months.”
Elaborating on the historicalness of the facility, Mr Kotelawala said, “This is the first ever shipping passenger terminal to be commissioned in the country. Seven or eight decades ago or even more, such facility was absent. We do have two beautiful international seaports, but we did not have any domestic seaport terminal.”
“This is the South Pacific’s largest domestic passenger terminal and that is why we are proud as a team. We are proud as a port and as a country to have this terminal commissioned today.”
Mr Kotelawala explained that as of its commissioning date, passengers and the general public can enter the building free of charge and have something to eat at a reasonable cost.
“So, passengers and the general public can enter at no charge, grab a cup of coffee or tea and have biscuits, muffins or whatever they like. There are two cafes here, some grocery shops and also upmarket cafes upstairs.
“Of course, all prices will be reasonable. This is one of the conditions for our tenants so as to enable everyone to come inside and be able to afford something. So that is the concept we apply here.”
Mr Kotelawala said this concept is part of Solomon Ports’ fulfillment of its social obligation to Solomon Islanders as a State-Owned-Enterprise and also as a leader in driving infrastructure growth in the country through the implementation of transformative infrastructure projects for the benefit of all Solomon Islanders.
He said further to the Millenium Terminal Project, Solomon Ports has some many other ambitious and durable projects to accomplish under its Master Plan for the next five years.
“And as I always say, we don’t put anything in place just for the sake of putting it in. We always plan on whether we should do a project and when we do a project, it is something transformative and will make us all proud,” he added.
By DELI-SHARON OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
