The disclosure that work on the Ogle International Airport (OIA) is progressing well and that work for developing it into a regional, international-class airport by mid-next year is on schedule is most welcome and heartening.
Airports play a major role in the developmental process of any country as they facilitate the movement of people, goods and services by air transport. Therefore, their role in development cannot be over stated or over emphasised.
President and CEO of Aerports de Montreal, James Cherry, points out that airports are a major force in the local, regional and national economy with an impact that goes well beyond the airport fence and as globalisation continues to take hold, the competitiveness of industry is increasingly relying on airports and the aviation infrastructure.
He adds that with rising passenger and cargo traffic infrastructure improvements, the importance of airports as economic catalysts will only increase in the future.
So the upgrading of Ogle Airport into a regional, international-class airport will boost our capacity to cope with incoming and outgoing flights and also relieve the pressure from the current lone international airport, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
With Guyana’s tourism sector on the upswing, the Ogle facility will enhance our attraction as a tourist destination as it is strategically located to facilitate tourists travelling directly to their destinations, be it Berbice, Essequibo or Georgetown.
However, during a media tour of the facility last week,an interesting and pertinent issue came up-that is, oversight of the facility. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the privately-owned OIA, Mr. Anthony Mekdeci forthrightly expressed that the management of OIA welcomes oversight by government, pointing out that  it has announced that it would, heartily, welcome an oversight role by government in its operations as this would strengthen transparency and eliminate misinformed perceptions.
He said: “Management of OIA would love to have the oversight panel. It would be a good idea to activate it, because people will not feel that it is just a group of guys on the board managing the airport. If there is a review panel, that is open and transparent, with government officials on it, then everybody would be very comfortable.”
Mekdeci said that development would take a lot of pressure off the members of the current Board and enable them to concentrate on upgrading the terminal and managing it in keeping with the mandate given by government.
He also noted that  such a mechanism is part of the lease arrangement signed with government in 2001, as an Airport Review Panel (ARP), but has not been operational.
With respect to the ARP, Article 16 of the Lease Agreement between the Government and the OIA, states, in part, that the members must include the Director General of Civil Aviation; an Airport Liaison Officer as a government representative; the Airport Manager; representatives of an international aviation regulatory body; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and an environmental consultant, among others.
It is good to hear that the OIA management is fully supportive of oversight by the government as this facility is of great magnitude and national importance. In fact, it will be a major plank in furthering our socio-economic advancement.
This project is yet another vivid demonstration of development on the move and another nail in the coffin of those few among us who continue to beat drum of negativism and spew their venom.
One columnist in particular clearly has nothing to write about so he has gone to the outlandish state of comparing this government with what is portrayed in the movie, “Night of the Generals.” This nonsensical comparison is captured nicely in the old Guyanaese adage: “When monkey nah gat nutten foh do, is he does pee in bottle.”