President Ali commissions Kaieteur Runway Extension Project

Aug 09, 2025 News

President Mohamed Irfaan Ali during the ceremony (Ministry of public works Facebook page)

Kaieteur News – The Kaieteur Runway Extension Project in Region Eight (Potaro–Siparuni), was commissioned on Friday by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

The state-crafted project began on August 30th, 2022, with Brigadier Gary Beaton (Proj Engr, GoG) and Dion Amsterdam, Senior Engineer at the Ministry of Public Works, both of whom died before the successful completion of the project.

The work was executed through an industrious and collaborative effort by the Guyana Defence Force and the Ministry of Public Works. This now sees the Kaieteur Runway having a total length of 3000ft.

The airstrip was extended by 1,000 feet and was completed by the Four Engineers Battalion of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), with support from the Ministry of Public Works.

The ribbon cutting at the Runway Extension Project (Ministry of public works Facebook page)

According to a statement from the Ministry of Public Works Facebook page “Some 120 troops from the GDF worked tirelessly to adapt to the conditions from start to end. Gratitude is also extended to the various stakeholders who were involved in the completion of the new 3000ft runway.”

Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill reflected on the amount of work that was executed by the engineers and soldiers for the successful completion of the extended runway. Special mention was made about the work of Brigadier Gary Beaton of the GDF and Senior Engineer Dion Amsterdam of the ministry, both remembered as hardworking, solution driven individuals.

Minister Edghill highlighted the impact this extended runway will have for tourism to one of Guyana’s main attractions.

“I am happy that with 3000ft we can now bring in every other plane right now except the Beechcraft and I think we have to keep working towards that so that we can bring in bigger aircraft and we are going to continue that… Pilots who used to come here, they can now see how safer it is, they can see how much more they can do in terms of bringing costs down because the payload is better, they can manage” he stated.

Moreover, this is the first time significant work was done since the construction of the initial 2000ft runway in the 1940s. The 1000ft extension will be replicated at a number of other airstrips across the country, through a collaborative approach with the Guyana Defence Force.

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Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, extension project, Guyana Defence Force, Kaieteur Runway

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