Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
CJIA’s US$150M and counting… Not yet commissioned, Arrivals terminal inadequate
A modified terminal building at the Timehri airport is already facing constraints, and it is not even commissioned as yet.
Passengers disclosed that the brand new Arrivals terminal, located at southern side of the old terminal building, can barely accommodate three plane loads of passengers.
In fact, lines are curling into those corridors that lead to the air bridges when there are just three planes.
Should there be four or five planes landing, of the Boeing 737 size, the problems would be multiplied, a number of stakeholders complained.
The smaller terminal building, one-storeyed, could only hold the Arrivals section, and even then, it is too small.
This would not be what was envisaged when the fixed price, Design and Building contract was signed in late 2011, at the end of the Bharrat Jagdeo administration.
In the “Background” of the agreement that the then government signed justifying the US$150M project, it was explained that the Government of Guyana has identified tourism as a priority in the country’s economic development plan and recognizes that improvement of Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is of paramount importance in order to promote a sustainable tourism industry. It was specific on the space issue.
In fact, this is what the contract says on the justification, “The existing airport terminal building is not currently capable of meeting peak traffic demand, or of expanding to meet the desired growth in passenger volume. It also cannot accommodate state-of-the-art airport terminal systems for passenger comfort, convenience and efficiency.”
The agreement with the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), further said that one-storey terminal building cannot accommodate aircraft boarding bridges forcing passengers to walk to and from the aircraft along the apron.
“The ability to generate revenue from concessions, airline office space and ticket counter usage is also limited. Expansion capabilities of the existing terminal are compromised due to the current terminal configurations.”
However, several things have gone wrong with this project with three administrations unable to explain how one contractor, a Chinese company, could have held Guyana at ransom like this without any known sanctions.
A project that was supposed to see a brand new, two-storey terminal building, to house the Arrival and Departure section, and more concession space, has been significantly modified.
An Arrivals section has been built and instead of the old terminal building torn down or used for something else, it was gutted renovated to include the Departure area.
Millions of dollars, and this is US dollars, would have been saved from the modified project.
The problem is that Guyana has not been apprised of the details of the modifications and the reasons.
In fact, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday, attempts to raise the matter in the National Assembly over time would have been them being shut down by one-line answers by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, which is in charge of the project.
He said that under a new government of the People’s Progressive Party, it will review what went wrong.
Kaieteur News had raised several questionable expenses in the contract.
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