–with commissioning of two new air bridges

TWO new air bridges were on Monday commissioned at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), thereby broadening the airport’s capacity to facilitate larger aircraft.

The addition of the two new passenger air bridges forms part of the expansion of the airport to further support the vision of having CJIA as a hub for aviation activity in the region.

Against this backdrop, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, who cut the ribbons to officially open the new air bridges, said that one of the first things that the PPP/C government did since entering office in 2020 was to indicate that they would not accept the reduced approach to the expansion and modernisation of the airport.

He said that when the contract was initially signed some years back, it was envisaged that there would be eight air-boarding bridges. However, after entering office in 2020, only four air bridges were done at the facility.

“We said to the contractor at that time, we are holding you accountable to the original contract that was signed in 2015, we are holding you accountable to what was agreed on and what was designed and as a result of that we made every effort to negotiate a new arrangement,” Edghill said.

In this new arrangement, the contractor was tasked to provide two additional boarding bridges, an added corridor and further expansion works on the airport that would provide spaces for concessions and restaurants, among other things.

The Public Works Minister said that President, Dr Irfaan Ali led the charge of the renegotiation with the contractor to have these works done at the cost of the contractor.
“That was important because we knew as a country the vision was to bring the Cheddi Jagan International Airport into a place of becoming a hub of aviation activity in this part of the world, and there is no way that we would have been able to achieve that with what we met when we came to government in August 2020,” he added.

These facilities, Edghill said, play a key role in accommodating much larger airlines with larger aircraft as many operators have expressed their interest in operating in Guyana.
This, he said, is a signal that the Head of State was able to stand and lead the charge in letting the contractors know that what was done previously was unacceptable.

Chairman of the CJIA board, Sanjeev Datadin, during the commissioning ceremony said that the boarding bridges are an integral part of the development and add capacity to be able to cater to the increased traffic seen at the airport.