AN additional $300M has been pumped into the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project to facilitate the completion of the project.
During a recent parliamentary sitting, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, pointed out that the $300M is in addition to the $9B allocated in the 2017 budget for the expansion. The minister outlined that the terminal building area will increase from 13,431 square metres to 13,737 square metres; checking counters will be increased from 20 to 32 and the length and original scope of the runway will be increased from 1066 metres to 1090 metres.

In 2011, the previous administration and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) had inked a US$150M contract for the expansion. Minister Patterson said to date local expenditure has amounted to US$4.8M with a balance of US$3.1M. Minister Patterson said the project will not exceed the contract sum. “The contract to China Harbour is US$138M, there’s a contract for supervision the government has to pay, which was penned by my predecessor for US$5.9M. We had to pay the consultancy, local Pari passu (at the same rate) and that comes out the $150M. It has always been $150M, we always said we will never exceed it, we will do better and finish a greater and better project with the $150M.”

To date, the project is on schedule with approximately 65 percent completed. On completion, the US$150M expansion projected is expected to have two air passenger boarding bridges for passengers’ arrival and departures; a 450-seating departure area, escalators and elevators in addition to an extended runway catering for larger categories of aircraft. This will enable Guyana to tap into its marketing tool and capitalise on its mission to be the gateway to South America. (DPI)