Georgetown: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Ramesh Ghir disclosed that some $366 million has been spent on the hallmark Airport Expansion Project during the year 2014.
Ghir made this disclosure at the Public Works Ministry year end review presentation on Friday, where he also revealed that the project has exhausted more than US$30 million or G$6.4 billion since its commencement back in 2013.
However, the $366,986,979 million was spent last year in spite of funding for the project not being approved by the National Assembly in the 2014 Budget.
Public Works Minister Robeson Benn explained that the continuation of the project was financed with funds received from the Government of China.
The minister pointed out that these monies must be used otherwise Guyanese will lose out on the benefits that can be reaped from it.
“Monies which come from overseas given as loans or grants (and) resides with us and we have to use it; these are foreign inflows called ‘specific’. The money comes to Guyana and you have to use it or if you don’t use most of it, it goes back and we don’t get the benefit of the engagements we have with the various countries with respect to the usage of those funds,” he explained.
Questioned about oversight of the monies provided by the Chinese Government, Benn noted that it is recorded in Parliament and persons are aware of it. However, he reminded, that it was the National Assembly that had granted the initial approval for the expansion project to get underway.
“Based on approvals in Parliament in late 2011, we accessed and paid out an amount of 20.7 million United States Dollars as the 15 per cent mobilisation advance to the project. So the project was initiated anyway and the contracts were signed. We face tremendous risk if we don’t continue the project by virtue of the necessity of the project,” he warned.
The CJIA Expansion Project is estimated at US$150 million and in December 2012, payment of US$20 million was approved by the National Assembly for the budget. The project consists of the runway expanding to 10,500 feet and a new terminal building to facilitate double its current capacity. A contract for US$138 million was signed with China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd and works begun on January 2013. The project is expected to be completed by September this year.
According to Ghir, the intension behind the runway expansion is to make it Class 4E and the sight is already ‘built out’ for the sand backfilling.
He noted that there is a total area of 304,000 square metres to be cleared and thus far only 11 per cent has been completed, that is 34,013 square metres.
The CEO further stated that a total of 1.6 million cubic metre or 82,620 truckloads of humus has to be excavated and thus far only 14,960 cubic metres or 18 per cent have been removed.
Meanwhile, the total amount of sand to be backfilled is 10.4 cubic metre or 522,838 truckloads. To date, the amount of sand backfilled has totaled 575,250 cubic metres or 28,763 truckloads, that is, or 5.5 per cent.
On the other hand, the airport CEO mentioned, the new terminal building will be 60,000 square metres and the construction of site office along with the accommodation is approximately 95 per cent completed. This area is located between the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) facilities on the main road in Timehri.
He revealed that the preliminary designs were submitted and reviewed during seven meetings held with the airport stakeholders to determine the optimum solution for the new terminal.
Ghir added that the construction of the new Terminal Building is expected to commence in May this year.
Employment
Additionally, the CJIA Head outlined that the airport expansion project is proving to be beneficial for the unemployed population in Guyana. He disclosed that about 230 locals have been employed on the project to date.
Currently, there are 49 nationals and 45 China Harbour employees who are working on the project.
Ghir projected that over 500 Guyanese will gain employment under the expansion project at the CJIA.
Moreover, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Engineering Corps, which was originally on the site that has proposed site for the new Terminal Building, has been relocated to the Base Camp Stephenson Compound.
Construction works are being done to the tune of US$1.1 million and is slated for completion in March.
You must be logged in to post a comment.