Office space, commercial and cargo area not included in US$150M airport price tag- Govt. to fork out more money

May 08, 2019 News

A section of the tarmac at CJIA

The contract the Government of Guyana signed with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) in 2011, to modernise the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), did not cater for office space. In fact, there seems that there were no provisions for roads and even the commercial area.
CJIA is now moving to build an office area, a commercial centre and a cargo area.
Yesterday, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) opened bids for projects which from all indications would add to the US$150M price tag.
It would raise questions as to why the three features were not included in the contract.
The CJIA project has become a major scandal, with Guyana getting a fraction of what it signed up for. Nobody is taking blame.
Instead of a brand new terminal building for the Arrivals and Departures along with a longer runway, there was renovation of the old terminal buildings and a smaller structure for the Arrivals.
The number of passenger bridges has been reduced from eight to four and the fancy, energy–saving glass roof that CHEC promised is now zinc sheets.
The Coalition Government claimed it found major problems when it entered office in 2015 and assessed the project.
The Chinese contractor, which seemed above the law, claimed for US$90M with only seven percent of the work completed. A significant portion of that money was paid out. The contract was supposed to be completed in 32 months after being signed in 2011, but has dragged on to 2019.
The Opposition, People’s Progressive Party/Civic, which signed the contract in Jamaica secretly without going to tender, had accused the Coalition Government of drastically modifying the project, although this was not allowed for in fixed-price agreements.
The Audit Office has announced that it will be launching an audit to determine how the money was spent and whether Guyana received value for its dollar.
The Scope of Work according to the 2011 contract which was signed by the then government included:
SCOPE OF WORK
3.1 Scope of Work
1) Design for the Contractor’s works which is mentioned from Clause 2) to Clause 10)
followed.
2) Design for New Car Park, Internal Road Area and Handing Equipment Area whose
construction will be undertaken by Employer and the Contractor shall be responsibility
for the design;
3) Mark the position of new Cargo Area and Fuel farm in Layout Drawings and have no
responsibility to make the detail design and construction both of which will be
undertaken by the Employer and not included in the project scope.
4) Land Backfilling work in Runway Extension Area and Airport Terminal Area excluding the resources fees imposed on the backfilling sand and other borrow material. “The Employer will provide the sand and other fill material (sites) to the contractor for free, and the distance from material source to the project site shall be within 12 km, but if the distance is more than 12 km, the transportation fee will be increased according to actually distance. The Employer shall be fully responsible for the quantity, quality and timely supply of the abovementioned sand and other fill material. Provided the Employer fails to satisfy this requirement, the Contractor shall be entitled claim expense and time extension accordingly. The acceptance, inspection, care, custody and control of the material supplied by the Employer shall not relieve the Employer of liability for any shortage, defect, or default of the material.
5) New Airport Terminal Building including Civil Building and relative systems inside of
Civil Building Power which are comprised by Power Supply System, Communication
Engineering System, Water Supply and Fire Control System, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning System.
6) Pavement of New Apron
7) Layout structure and systems
8) Oil tank
9) Existing Ground Foundation Treatment in Runway Extension Area.
10) Water Supply and Drainage for Runway Extension Area
11) Water Supply and Drainage for 2# Fire Pump Station
12) Power Supply Line for Runway Extension Area.

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