Saba Harbor Restoration to start this weekend

The facilities at the harbor suffered damage from especially hurricane Maria. Photo: Government of Saba.

The Bottom, Saba– Repair work on the Saba harbor will commence as of this weekend. The repairs have become necesary after the passing of hurricanes Irma and Maria. Especially the latter caused quite some damage to the facilities at Fort Bay Harbor.

For the past weeks, the Public Entity has been in close contact with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (I&M) with regards to needs for restoration of the harbor. According to Saba Government, I&M has been very helpful by making accessibility of Saba and especially the harbor one of their priorities. Expertise and means were made available to work on very short term, temporary solutions that will make the harbor better accessible for all economic activities within the next two weeks.

This weekend, the company Koole-Mammoet will arrive on Saba with a barge and equipment to deepen the entrance to the harbor and execute essential dredge work, including removal of rocks and other material in the harbor basin. Also, a temporary solution will be put in place to restore the breakwater by the small pier to increase the safety of the harbor basin. Additionally, repairs will take place to make the grey jetty usable again as soon as possible.

In the meantime, the Public Entity has already made a start with dredging the harbor. The aim is, together with I&M, make the harbor accessible and safer as far as that is possible in the short term.

A more structural renovation of the harbor will be costly and time-consuming. Together with Rijkswaterstaat and the engineering company Walhout Civil first steps are taken to make a plan for a structural renovation of the parts at the harbor that was damaged by the hurricanes.