CJIA Modified Design remains elusive

Jul 13, 2019 News

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The modified design for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport is yet to be released to the public, though it has supposedly been given to several officials.

Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson had said that when this government assumed office in 2015, it noticed striking issues to the original design of the airport, accepted by the Jagdeo-led People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government. Hence, changes needed to be made.
Jagdeo has said he estimates that about $30M has been shaved off of the project, due to major alterations made in the modified design.
Kaieteur News requested a copy of this plan from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure on June 25. The approval of its release is subject to approvals by officials within the Ministry, according to Public Relations Officer, Krest Cummings.
Yet, Kaieteur News was informed by Cummings yesterday that the approval process has not yet started, because Minister Patterson has been busy with several outreaches.
Last Thursday, when asked for a copy of the design, Minister Patterson told Kaieteur News that he has already given copies to Speaker of the House, Dr. Barton Scotland, and Shadow Minister, Juan Edghill.
“I specifically made and handed it over in parliament… They always claim they don’t have information, so I gave it to him and gave a copy to the Speaker in the hope that whenever [Edghill] raises it,” the Speaker can attest that it has been handed over.

It should be noted that, when a document is laid in the National Assembly, it is handed over to the Clerk of the Assembly, not the Speaker.
When Kaieteur News checked with the Parliament Library yesterday, a staffer told this publication that if a document is not laid in the National Assembly, it would not be available in the library. This publication was also informed that the only documents available at the time, related to the airport, were its audited financial statements, for which the latest was of the year 2016.
This publication attempted to reach out to the Speaker’s secretary, who had already left office, so that effort proved futile.
In a brief interview with Edghill, Kaieteur News was informed that he did, in fact, receive a copy of the modified design. Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, had said multiple times recently, that Minister Patterson would not release the design to the public, and urged the media corps to up the pressure on Patterson to release the design.
The Opposition had not attended Parliament for the last few sittings, since it indicated that it would be protesting what it considered an illegal Government after a three-month period had passed, following the passage of the No Confidence Motion on December 21, 2018.

So, if Minister Patterson gave a copy of the modified design to the Speaker and Edghill when Parliament was in session, this would mean it was handed over months ago. It should be noted that though the Opposition was in possession of the design all this time, Jagdeo continued to accuse Patterson of keeping the design a secret, and urged the media corps as recent as June 27 last month, to up pressure on the Minister for its immediate release.
When Kaieteur News asked Edghill to provide a copy of the design, he said that he should not have to provide a copy of the design. He added that Patterson, as the originator of the document, should be the one to provide it to the press.
This airport has been undergoing renovations for eight years, under three administrations. The completion date has been pushed back many times. The last completion date, provided by Patterson, was June 30. But that has passed and the project has not been finalised.
Providing an explanation for the delay, Patterson said on Thursday last, that he would like a warranty to be provided for the HVAC [Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning] system. That has not been done as yet.
“When you start an airport, it never closes down,” he stated, explaining the need for the warranty.
“The supplier has a time-period that he runs it before he signs off, and they obviously started the commissioning late, so it should be handed over to us. It was supposed to be handed over to us next week, or at the end of this week.”
Despite saying that he requires a warranty, the Minister went on to say that Government will be accepting the HVAC system without the HVAC certificate, because there’s a defects liability period.
A defects liability period is a timeframe following practical completion, during which a contractor remains liable under the building contract. Patterson stated that that period has been in force for quite some time.

 

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