Govt. to spend another $82M to fix up baggage area at newly renovated CJIA

Sep 06, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – Government is preparing to spend another $82 million to rehabilitate the baggage make-up area at the recently renovated Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).

This is according to the recent opening of tenders at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) office which revealed that a total of four contractors have submitted bids for the CJIA project. The contractors vying for the contract are: Swiss Engineering Firm who bid $102,768,420; Dundas Constructions Inc. who bid $81,609,770; K&S General Contractors Inc. who bid $74,457,050; and Builders Engineering & Architectural Consultant who bid $120,241,232. The estimated sum for the project is $82,394,258.

Kaieteur News had reported that the new works for the airport are part of the government’s plans to modernize the airport. With about US$160 million already pumped into the expansion of CJIA– citizens should expect more of their taxpayers’ dollars going towards the ‘continued modernisation’ of the airport.

The Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Last year at a press conference, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill told reporters that construction on the airport will continue. The airport expansion contract was signed in 2011 under then President, Bharrat Jagdeo, and was passed through the truncated presidency of Donald Ramotar. However, when the David Granger administration took over in 2015, it said that the very defective plan needed adjustments and changes were made. The decade-old project was awarded to Chinese contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for the sum of US$150 million: $138 million from the China Exim Bank and $12 million from the consolidated fund – taxpayers’ money.

When the PPP administration took office in August 2020, Minister Edghill had stated that they were not satisfied with the work that was done by the contractor and as such, they had negotiated and gotten CHEC to do additional works at the airport at no cost to Guyana.

The additional works that were done by the contractor included a superstructure, corridor and curtain wall. It was only recently that CHEC completed the works on the airport. Notably, while the contract cost with the Chinese contractor remains at US$150M, the government is undertaking several multi-million upgrades to the airport. With more spending being done on the airport, the final cost for the airport expansion is still unknown. Notably, while Minister Edghill had assured that the CJIA expansion project final cost will not surpass US$200 million –to date, the spending is currently over US$160 million.

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baggage, Cheddi Jagan International Airport, K&S General Contractors Inc., National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), renovated

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