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Cut to transport budget a devastating blow

Apr 14, 2014 News

– Gerry Gouveia

Roraima Airways Chief Executive Officer, Captain Gerry Gouveia said that the action of the combined Opposition to vote against the aviation sector’s allocation is a devastating blow to the tourism sector.
“I can just say to you as a tourism operative here in Guyana, and as pilot and an airline owner, I am devastated because this has to do with people’s lives, this has to do with safety, this has to do with the new dispensation, the development of our airport…the development of this airport is so vital and crucial to the development of tourism and business development in Guyana,” Gouveia told the National Communications Network (NCN) in an invited comment on Friday.
The Opposition using their one-seat majority on April 10 voted against the budgetary allocation of $6.5Billion.
The vote against the project also affected the funding for other aviation services as $235M was budgeted under the same heading that the CJIA fell, for hinterland airstrips’ rehabilitation, as well as for the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
Gouveia said he was very perplexed over the development, as tourism bodies have been calling for investments in the sector.
“I really cannot fathom why they would interfere with the aviation budget that got to do with tourism and the creation of new jobs,” he reiterated.
The CJIA expansion is regarded as a major developmental project that will see Guyana’s main port boasting a runway to a total of 10,800 feet to accommodate large transatlantic aircraft, a new terminal building, eight boarding bridges, elevators, escalators, three dimensional x-ray scanners, flight information and security monitoring systems.
The hinterland airstrips play a vital role in the development of the regions, and their maintenance is critical to the movement of goods and people in and out of the regions.
These projects suffered cuts in 2013, when the Opposition voted to slash the entire $5.6B allocation to the transport sector programme, of which  $5.3B was budgeted for the upgrade, expansion and modernisation of the CJIA, $248M for the rehabilitation of airstrips in Matthews Ridge, Imbaimadai and Kamarang and the maintenance of 43 airstrips in Regions 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9, and $80M to procure an Automated Dependent Surveillance Broadcast to bring precision and reliability of satellite based surveillance to Guyana’s national airspace. (GINA)
The servicing of the European Union loan for the Ogle aerodrome modernisation was also affected.

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