Hydromet Unit mulls generating revenue from aviation sector

Jul 27, 2016 News

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By Kiana Wilburg
Guyana’s Hydrometeorological Service plays an invaluable role when it comes to environmental predictions related to climate, the energy sector and floods to name a few. But equally important is the role it plays in the aviation sector.
`In fact, the aviation sector has benefited from significant investments by governments in international meteorological infrastructure. Also, advances in that infrastructure, forecasting systems and techniques, have been driven in part by the evolving requirements of aviation.
Hydromet officials said that there has been fruitful co-operation between the airline industry and meteorological services in establishing programmes for making available automated reports from aircraft, which contribute significantly to enhancing the quality of the services provided to all users within the sector. The service also provides information freely to various stakeholders. However, there have been calls for a Cost Recovery Framework.
With this in mind, Hydromet officials and analysts within the sector believe that the service has immense potential to generate its own income, especially in areas of aviation meteorology and ground water hydrology.
In this context, the objective officials said, would be to ensure that required services are delivered, appropriate revenues are recovered, and that there is a fair distribution of such revenues to providers of both services and supporting infrastructure.
According to Hydromet representatives, it is believed that landing charges at the Cheddi Jagan Timehri Airport and some of the capital works that utilize Hydromet data/information should be paid to the Treasury as revenue generated by the Hydromet Service. They opine, too, that the possibility also exists for an increase in revenue from charges for licenses in drilling of wells, data, etc.
Officials said, “It is crucial to bear in mind that the Hydrometeorological Service is a department that demands academic scientific competence and experience, long working hours etc so that it can meet its mandate.”

They added, “We must also be aware that new equipment and its operation and maintenance, and the use of computers and improved telecommunications will result not only in changes to operational routines but also, at times, in changes to the structure and management of the service itself.”
Furthermore, Hydromet representatives said that there are various models of service delivery and cost recovery being used by many countries around the world.
“Generally, it is believed that the most efficient way to recover costs from aviation has proven to be the designation of a single entity to recover all air navigation service charges on behalf of all service providers, including aeronautical meteorological services.”
“However, in instances where a single entity is designated to recover all air navigation service charges, experience in International Civil Aviation Organisation and World Meteorological Organisation has shown that it is essential that transparent and formal agreements are reached beforehand on the appropriate distribution of the revenues which are recovered to all air navigation service providers including meteorological services.”
For the time being, the service is guided by the Public Service procedures. But they said that this does not adequately cater for the specialized needs of scientific-based institutions like Hydromet, thus it was recommended by analysts that steps be taken to have this institution function semi autonomously.
Additionally, the efficiency and reliability of the Hydrological and Meteorological network was improved with the installation of the Doppler weather radar, satellite imagery reception stations and replacement/training of staff has enhanced the quality of products from the Hydrometeorological Service.
But like every entity, the Hydromet Service has experienced its fair share of challenges.
High vacancy levels and lack of adequately technically trained staff in every section often affect delivery.
Recommendations have since been made by officials there for competent qualified personnel to be maintained in the Aeronautical, Climatological, Agrometeorology, Water Resources Sections and the National Ozone Action Unit (NOAU) to work on activities associated with the Water and Sewage Act 2002 and Restriction of Ozone Depleting Substances Order made under Trade Act on a full time basis in the coming year.
There have also been complaints about difficulties in sourcing contractors for providing services in remote locations. Due to the remoteness of a number of the stations, officials related that maintenance continues to be a challenge for the Service.
They said that even when contractors are available, they may not comply with the requirements stipulated by the National Procurement Act ( e.g. Tax Identification Number etc), or may not be willing to work with the terms of payment because of the high mobilization cost due to transportation of materials. Nevertheless, work is ongoing with primary data processing and digitizing of data sets.

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