THE massive 48-acre US$15M heliport facility, located at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara (ECD), is 75 per cent complete, according to Chairman of Orinduik Development Inc., Harrychand Tulsi.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday, Tulsi said further work on the facility, which is slated for completion within the next few months, is contingent upon consultations with the potential operators of the facility.

“The balance of the work depends on the preferences of the final operators. We are in the process of negotiating with the operators and that 25 per cent would have to get their input, their likes, their dislikes,” Tulsi related.

Speaking directly to the impact of the facility on Guyana’s growing economy, Tulsi said: “It is crucially needed to support the offshore operations because every day we have offshore workers on and off the oil platforms. They go there, they work two weeks or so and then they have to come in and eventually you would have several thousand workers out there, and when you have that several hundreds of persons flying in and out every day, it is a whole airport operation by itself.”

The primary objective of the proposed heliport, according to the company, is to provide an independent facility for helicopter operations in close proximity to Georgetown, and to address the growing need for air transport services across many sectors, including the extractive industries.

Tulsi related that the facility is expected to reduce the load being shouldered by the Ogle airport, which is currently the main port being used to transport persons and cargo to and from ExxonMobil offshore facilities.

He said that while the facility will be catering mainly to the oil and gas sector, there is a possibility that operators of the facility could implement systems to extend the use of the facility to the government and private helicopter transport.

“The facility could see government use for air policing, medical and other emergency responses, search and rescue and there is the possibility for local miners and tourism, but that would depend on whether the local operator will permit that,” Tulsi related.

To further serve the oil and gas sector, the company is also setting up the helicopter underwater escape training (HUET)/Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) training centre and polytechnic drilling/aviation school at Lusignan.

According to the company, Guyana Aviation Polytechnic proposes to offer aviation technology programmes and courses to satisfy the base, middle, and upper-level manpower needs for the growing industry.

The company have invested US$5M into both the OMITC and Polytechnic Center to train a substantial number of Guyanese and international personnel within the oil and gas and aviation sectors.

“We’re going to be training them in things like how to escape from a crashing helicopter in the ocean, all aspects of welding, working in confined spaces, non-destructive testing of welding, a whole range of skill set that is needed for Guyanese to effectively take over what happens in the oil and gas sector,” Tulsi said.

Speaking of the impact of both the facility and the training centres, Tulsi said: “The whole park, with the heliport, would greatly allow the government to bring home a large part of the oil operations to Guyanese. So, I foresee, if everything goes to plan, in three-four years’ time we would be able to turn out enough certified Guyanese to man most of the operations on the oil platform.”