– minister of public works

MINISTER of Public Works, Juan Edghill, held few words back on Wednesday when he stated that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion Project was a great disaster, brought about by poor management and administration of the previous government.

At a virtual press briefing, Edghill noted that the project should have been completed since December 2018 but the poor performance of the Chinese contractor involved and unacceptable excuses provided for such, has left Guyanese with an incomplete international airport some two years later.

“This project has gone wrong. The Contractor has not fulfilled his obligations and the Granger Administration did not provide the necessary policy guideline to the technical people to ensure compliance with the contract,” Edghill stated.

He said that the matter is of “great concern” to the Government as Guyanese have not received the completion of the project as it was proposed to them.

Giving examples, he said that the airport’s new terminal building cannot yet accommodate eight aircraft at one time as projected; passengers must still walk on the tarmac to the plane or to the airport due to dysfunctional air bridges; the runway is still incomplete and the renovated terminal building has significant defects such as leaking roofs, improper tiling, poor air conditioning, poor lighting and more.

The Minister stated, further, that the current Project Engineer is finding it difficult to get the contractor to comply with the contract arrangements. In fact, he pointed out that the contract expired in December 2018 and though extensions were made, there are still great challenges almost two years later.

He said that the contractor has performed so badly that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) had stopped granting duty-free concessions and was exploring the possibility of garnishment because of what is owed by the contractor to the GRA.

Even so, Edghill promised: “Very shortly, the Ministry of Public Works, having been briefed by our representatives in the person of the Project Engineer and the Consultant who is supervising the works, will be engaging the contractor on the way forward…over 700 days have elapsed and I don’t even think there is sufficient monies in the remaining contract, based upon the calculations, to really benefit from liquidated damages.”

Even so, he assured that the government is committed towards the completion and modernisation of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and every effort is being made to ensure the contractor complies with the elements of his contract.

In January, the former Administration reported that the expansion project was 93 per cent completed.