“Nothing left to chance” – Edghill, following a visit to the CJIA project

… Says expansion at the same time as airport operations

The government is clearly keeping close tabs on China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), as Public Works Minister Juan Edghill made it clear following another visit to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project that it will not anything left to chance.

In an interview with this announcement on Saturday, Minister Edghill explained the purpose of his meeting with the contractor, who has a record of missing deadlines on the CJIA expansion project.
“(The visit was) to make sure they are compliant, because we’re not leaving anything to chance. There were 34 items that should have been completed by 31st December. But only 13 were completed. ”
“They did things. Which means unless they complete these things on their own, they had to do this along with other things at the same time. Because we’re not going to allow time slippage, ”the Minister further explained.
Previously, CHEC was due to complete work on 34 out of 71 items in the expansion project by Dec. 31. Instead, they completed only 13 of those items last Thursday. At the meeting, CHEC was given a deadline of 31 January to submit a Resource Allocation Plan which will provide guidance for their work plan.
“We should have the preliminary drawings for the extra work they have to do by another two weeks, so that we can confirm by the end of March that all the designs for the extra work will have been done and that we will make that built, ”said Edghill, adding that work should be able to be done at the same time as the airport’s regular operations.
Back in December 2020, the government brokered an agreement with CHEC so that the company would undertake $ 1.8 billion in work at CJIA, at no additional cost to the state. This agreement, which included additional residential bridges and an extended terminal building, brought Guyana closer to getting its originally promised work scope.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Works, Vladim Persaud and CHEC Project Manager Liu Keliang signed the new agreement, which was pegged at a cost of some US $ 9 million.
The new works would also have included extending the Airport’s residential corridor to accommodate two other passenger boarding bridges, providing the Airport with a total of six boarding bridges capable of servicing aircraft such as the Boeing 777, Dreamliner, the AirBus and the like. trans-Atlantic aircraft.
He should also have seen the terminal building extended to accommodate additional commercial space such as food courts and duty-free shops. The expanded building will feature a modern airport facade covering the full length of the departure terminal.
The CJIA expansion project was supposed to be completed since December 31, 2018 under the former Government for National Unity / Alliance for Change (APNU / AFC), but has now been taken over by the People’s Progressive / Civic Party (PPP / C) Government, in incomplete and underrated condition.
In fact, the APNU / AFC Administration headed by David Granger settled for a denigrated design while paying more than the US $ 150 million allocated. When the coalition Government came to power in 2015, the project was postponed, but after discussions between former Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson and CHEC, it was later announced that the project would continue, but a number of downgrades were made to the design.
Some US $ 138 million of the costs allocated were financed by the EXIM (Export-Import) Bank of China, while US $ 12 million was spent by the Government of Guyana. He was not expected to exceed that amount, but Guyana had to incur additional expenses.
The CJIA, as it expands its undergraduate design, has four smaller air passenger boarding bridges for arrivals and departures than the initial eight; a 450-seat exit area; escalators and elevators in addition to an incomplete extended runway, which was supposed to measure 400 and 690 meters at the various ends.
An old terminal building marked for cargo was refurbished, and only one of the new sections was erected. Meanwhile, no new apron that was supposed to support the four additional airbridges exists. There is also no room for enough off-duty shops, restaurants, car rentals and other facilities. (G3)