–initiative to be replicated at airstrips across the country
PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali and Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, on Friday, commissioned the extension of the airstrip located in the Kaieteur National Park.
The 1,000-foot extension was carried out by the four Engineers Battalion of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), with support from the Ministry of Public Works.
According to information from President Ali’s Facebook page, the extension was dedicated to the late Brigadier Gary Beaton and Ms. Dion Amsterdam, who initially worked on the project.
This critical extension will allow for larger carriers, significantly increasing tourist traffic to the iconic Kaieteur Falls, the President said on his page. Specifically, the Kaieteur runway now has a total length of 3000ft.

“Some 120 troops from the GDF worked tirelessly to adapt to the conditions from start to end. Gratitude is also extended to the various stakeholders who were involved in the completion of the new 3000ft runway,” the Ministry of Public Works said in a post on its Facebook page.
Minister Edghill reflected on the magnitude of work that was executed by the engineers and soldiers for the successful completion of the extended runway.
Both Brigadier Beaton and Ms. Amsterdam were remembered as hardworking, solution driven individuals.
Further, Minister Edghill also highlighted the impact this extended runway will have for tourism to one of Guyana’s main attractions.
“I am happy that with 3000ft we can now bring in every other plane right now except the Beechcraft and I think we have to keep working towards that so that we can bring in bigger aircraft and we are going to continue that… pilots who used to come here, they can now see how safer it is, they can see how much more they can do in terms of bringing costs down because the payload is better, they can manage” He said.
This is the first time, significant work was done since the construction of the initial 2000ft runway in the 1940s.
The 1000ft extension will be replicated at a number of other airstrips across the country, through a collaborative approach between the Ministry of Public Works and the Guyana Defence Force.