RORAIMA Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, Captain Gerald Gouveia, has said that the action of the combined Opposition in voting against the aviation sector’s allocation is a devastating blow to the tourism sector.

“I can just say to you — as a tourism operative here in Guyana, and as pilot and an airline owner –- that I am devastated, because this has to do with people’s lives; this has to do with safety; this has to do with the new

dispensation: The development of our airport…

“The development of this airport is so (very) vital and crucial to the development of tourism and business development in Guyana,” Gouveia told the National Communications Network (NCN) in an invited comment on Friday.

Using their one-seat majority on April 10, the opposition voted against the budgetary allocation of $6.5 billion for the aviation sector. That vote also affected the funding for other aviation services, as $235M had been budgeted under the same heading with the CJIA for rehabilitation of hinterland airstrips as well as for the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

Gouveia said he was very perplexed over this development, as tourism bodies have been calling for investments in the sector. “I really cannot fathom why they would interfere with the aviation budget, (which has) got to do with tourism and the creation of new jobs,” he reiterated.

The CJIA expansion is regarded as a major developmental project. It would see Guyana’s main port boasting a runway of 10,800 feet, which could accommodate large trans-Atlantic aircraft; a new terminal building; eight boarding bridges; elevators; escalators; three dimensional x-ray scanners; and flight information and security monitoring systems.

The hinterland airstrips play a vital role in development of the regions in which they are situated, and their maintenance is critical to the movement of goods and people in and out of those regions.

These projects suffered cuts in 2013, when the Opposition voted to slash the entire $5.6B allocated to the transport sector programme, of which $5.3B were budgeted for the upgrade, expansion and modernisation of the CJIA; $248M for the rehabilitation of airstrips in Matthews Ridge, Imbaimadai and Kamarang, and the maintenance of 43 airstrips in Regions 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9; and $80M to procure an Automated Dependent Surveillance Broadcast to bring precision and reliability of satellite-based surveillance to Guyana’s national airspace.

The servicing of the European Union loan for the Ogle Aerodrome modernisation was also affected.

(GINA)