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$920M spent on new airstrip “a good investment” – Aishalton Toshao
(Kaieteur News) – Toshao of Aishalton Village, Deep South Rupununi, Region Nine, Timothy Williams said the $920 million spent by the government to upgrade the airstrip in his community is “a good investment.”
President Irfaan Ali along with some cabinet members earlier this month commissioned the new 2,500ft concrete rigid pavement airstrip in the Amerindian community.
Works on the airstrip was spearheaded by the special projects’ unit of the Ministry of Public Works, through local contractor International Import & Supplies which saw at least 60 residents involved in the construction process. The works commenced in October 2025 and was completed by December 10, 2025.
Toshao, Timothy Williams.
President Ali, speaking on the newly upgraded airstrip, said “It will improve access to healthcare, it will improve and reduce cost of living, it will improve market access and opportunities and create better connectivity. It is an important plan in the transformation of your community, it has major economic benefit in the diversification of our economy and tourism now has a real opportunity in Aishalton.”
Speaking to Kaieteur News on Wednesday, Toshao Williams said the airstrip will benefit his community and nine other villages including Shea, Parabara, Maruranau, Karaudarnau, Achawib and Awarewaunau.
The $920 million Aishalton Airstrip in Region Nine.
“Well, we have been asking for an airstrip for the longest while, at least for the last 20 years we have been requesting that because we have realised the importance of that. So, I think from our end it was a good investment. We have been asking for that a long, long time and when we have emergencies and so forth, we can offer that service especially as we have the infrastructure that can accommodate night flights as well,” Williams said of the multi-million-dollar project.
He further noted that the upgraded airstrip improves travel especially during the rainy season when travel is very difficult there.
“We are currently in talks with some air services to have scheduled flights because prior to now, we would have had mostly chartered flights, and so we are to have that kind of improvement in travelling to the south and of course bringing in other services and connecting Aishalton and the surrounding communities,” he related.
During the commissioning, President Ali had noted that the airstrip will link to more market access for their agricultural produces and create tourism opportunities.
Speaking on tourism, Toshao Williams said, ‘currently, we are working on several products not in Aishalton but in the surrounding communities, to ensure that we have more travel into that part of the country. We want to capitalise not only on the sites, but we want to explore other enterprises, such as lodges and so on in the communities that would be our attraction for (air) traffic.”
According to the Toshao, while tourism packages are available, they are not so established. He said the village is working with the Ministry of Tourism, “to ensure that we have more established packages and with Aishalton being the port of entry.”
Regarding agriculture, he said that “at the moment we don’t have any medium or large scale, it’s more local but with that airstrip there is now opportunity for expanding or going into at least medium scale agriculture, especially to the agri-processing sector.”
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