There is no abuse of land at the Ogle Airport

Jan 31, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Within the space of seven (7) days, the Kaieteur News has reported stories (21st and 28th January, 2018) based on misinformation provided by unnamed sources targeting the Eugene F. Correia International Airport.
The newspaper, of course, has violated the basic practice of professional and objective journalism by publishing its story without, at least, first, seeking a response from the company it has targeted in its report.
The Kaieteur News report further, on this occasion, makes a personal, unfounded, false, and libelous attack on Mr. Michael Correia, Chairman of OAI. It accuses Mr. Correia of improperly leasing land at the Airport to himself. Mr. Correia neither owns, nor has leased for himself, any land at the Airport. All land leased from Ogle Airport Inc. is, in fact, leased under contract, reviewed by a Land Lease Committee appointed by the Board of Directors of OAI.
The alleged source of the Kaieteur News, with apparent malicious intent, selectively and misleadingly quotes from a Sub-lease Agreement issued by the Airport on 18th February, 2010, to the Correia Mining Company Ltd. (CMCL). On 6th October, 2009, CMCL applied to OAI for the lease of non-airside land “for vehicle parking and container storage” and not for the construction of a hangar. The CMCL application is perfectly consistent with the provisions of the Sub-lease Agreement issued to the company which allows for “suitable structures in accordance with plans submitted by the lessee and approved by the lessor”.
It is entirely false, therefore, for the newspaper to report that this land “was permitted to remain undeveloped for seven years”. The land in question had to be drained and developed from a swamp and houses the Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School and a car park. The remaining land to be developed is temporarily in use as a playing field providing recreational facilities for the over 350 employees of the Correia Group of Companies, until such time as the development is completed.
We wish to point out that EFCIA is an Airport in a dynamic and growing state of development as a public aviation facility. The Airport is subject at all times to the obligations which are clearly set out in the Lease Agreement between the GOG and OAI, as a private Sector company with several shareholders, operating as a public/private partnership.
It is precisely for this reason that the Lease Agreement between OAI and the Government of Guyana (GOG) specifically provides for the establishment of an Airport Review Panel (ARP) to review the progress and obligations of all the parties under this Agreement and to ensure that the responsibilities of the government and the responsibilities of the airport operators are complied with.
It has been the consistent, if not persistent, appeal of the private operator to the government, past and present, to appoint the Review Panel in accordance with the terms of reference of the Lease Agreement. Had the Review Panel been in place and functioning, there would be little room for mischievous reporting in the media. Ogle Airport Inc. looks forward to the Minister of Public Infrastructure fulfilling that obligation.
All of the major domestic operators: Air Services Limited (ASL), Trans Guyana Airways (TGA), Roraima Airways Limited (RAL), Wings Aviation Limited (WAL) and JAGS Aviation, have substantial Sub-leases on the Airport in growing and varying stages of development.
There are two (2) mining companies and one (1) timber company with leases on the Airport and all of these companies operate aircraft services. These companies are Correia Mining Company Ltd., Hopkinson Mining Company and A. Mazaharally & Sons Limited.
As Ogle Airport Inc. has already stated, the Kaieteur News report that small aircraft operators “are still waiting a positive feedback from OAI” for applications for land is simply not true. Small aircraft operators are generally unable to finance substantial airside hangar facilities and, in some cases, even non-airside office facilities. Ogle Airport Inc., for this reason, at its own expense for some time now, has provided a light aircraft parking apron and, in the case of two (2) operators, Hinterland Aviation Inc. and G Star Aviation, has provided terminal offices at concessionary rates.
There is no aircraft operator, large or small, once meeting the financial, technical and administrative requirements of the Airport and the regulations governing the Airport, whose application for land has been refused. As already pointed out, there are a number of applications pending for the purpose of leasing land which are currently subject to the review of the processing of the leasing of state lands by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.
There is no abuse of land at the Airport. The Sub-lease of land by OAI is strictly in accord with the provisions of the Lease Agreement between OAI and Government, is subject to the review and approval of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and must meet the technical, financial and administrative requirements which are clearly established and publicly available to any applicant.

Ogle Airport Inc.

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