Ministry probes $70M rehab of recently completed Baramita airstrip

Jun 19, 2018 News

Residents of Region One are raising safety concerns and questioning who supervised a multimillion-dollar project to rehabilitate a key runway in Region One.
There are clear signs of deterioration, despite the project only completed a few months ago, to the tune of $70M.
The contract was announced last June by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, at a Government post-Cabinet press briefing. It was disclosed that two airstrips were chosen – Baramita and Ekereku Bottom, Region Seven.
It was made known that those airstrips were chosen based on several criteria, including the number of flights over the past 10 years, aviation safety for aircraft operation and the number of beneficiaries.
For Ekereku, the contract was awarded to BK International for the sum of $59.1M. The Baramita airstrip project was awarded to M. Ramzan Ally Construction.

The condition of the Baramita airstrip, a few months after a $70M upgrade.

According to Facebook posts by residents and others over the weekend, which sparked condemnation, the runway and parking area at Baramita were rehabilitated less than six months ago. They said that it is in poor shape now.
“Today, it is in a deplorable condition due to substandard work. The bitumen layer is less than a 1/4 inch thick. I don’t blame Hon. David Patterson who is doing amazing work. I must blame the contractor who knew he was shafting the taxpayers by doing this egregious wrong,” one resident claimed.
According to the residents, the runway cannot in its condition stand up to the pressures of a car, much less a 10,000-pound aircraft exerting landing forces.
The images of the runway showed thin layers of bitumen, soft spots and laterite.
The post attracted the attention of Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, who said he will have the matter checked and a report prepared, once it was done under his ministry.
It was reported last year that there are 57 licensed Government airstrips in Guyana.
Forty-seven are maintained by the Aerodrome Department of the Public Infrastructure Ministry.
The airstrips which saw repairs and maintenance works in 2016 were Port Kaituma ($1.45M); Mabaruma ($1.43M); Imbaimadai ($1.95M); Kaieteur ($1.73M); Aishalton ($4.72M); Anna Regina ($1.19M; Lethem ($1.65M); Paramakatoi ($1.13M); Kamarang ($1.91M); Ekereku Bottom ($1.7M); Bartica ($1.17M); Mahdia ($1.86M) and Annai ($3.9M).
In recent years, there has been growing pressure for government to not only sanction non-performing contractors, but the engineers who sign off the projects for payments.