Kaieteur News – Almost a decade after the sod was turned for the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA)–Chinese contractor- China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is expected to officially hand over the airport to the Government of Guyana (GoG) – June month end.

Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill.

This is according to Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill. Earlier this year, during a press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), the minister had disclosed that the deadline for the additional works at CJIA is set for June 2022. When contacted on Monday for an update on the progress of the works being undertaken by CHEC, Minister Edghill said, “We expect the Chinese contractor to hand over the airport at the end of June 2022 and as far as I’m aware, this is on track.”

Edghill is reported in the media as saying that the CJIA project with Chinese contractor, CHEC, remains at US$150M: $138M from the China Exim Bank and $12M from the consolidated fund – taxpayers’ money.

The minister had cited that the additional works being undertaken by CHEC are at no cost to Guyana, but through negotiations with the government which the contractor agreed to do at their own expense.

The additional works being done by the Chinese contractor includes the superstructure, corridor and curtain wall. Notably, while the contract cost with the Chinese contractor remains at US$150M, the government is undertaking several multi-million upgrades to the airport which were separated into three parts.

CJIA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ramesh Ghir had disclosed that the spending being done by the government is separate from the ongoing modernisation works being undertaken by CHEC.

The additional spending by the government has increased the amount of money spent on the airport which falls way below expectations and international airport standards.

Minister Edghill had blamed the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition for causing more monies to be spent on CJIA. During an interview on National Communications Network (NCN), the Minister had highlighted that the additional spending and modernisation of the CJIA is owed to works outside the amended Coalition contract to which the Government has acquired the contractor to undertake and separate works that they are doing.

ADDITIONAL SPENDING
The government signed a $513M contract last year with construction company CALCO for the construction of a new building attached to CJIA’s terminal building. Ghir had explained that the new building will house a conference room, offices for the airlines and the other support agencies as well as storage bonds for the duty-free shops and concessionaires.

In September 2021, Edghill’s Ministry awarded a contract for US$2M to a local company named Total Solutions for the supply of two additional air-bridges for CJIA, some US$ 350,000 more than what was paid for the other air bridges.

Edghill had stated that the government money funded the additional air bridges expense. Kaieteur News had reported that according to the minister, “The air bridges are being funded by the Government of Guyana and that is as a result of the agreement made with the APNU/AFC, when they ended up with two air bridges and then we had to get a supplementary from the Parliament, Government of Guyana, to buy the other two.”

Some other projects at the airport that the government is funding are: $38 million for an international apron and the taxiway Charlie; $23M for the rehabilitation of the existing roof at the airport; construction and rehabilitation works of the VIP Lounge and new and existing commercial buildings of the airport at an estimated cost of $612M; $518M runway which comes with an Instrument Landing System (ILS) and $420 million which was approved by the National Assembly for a baggage handling system for the renovated airport.

Also, the airport’s CEO had mentioned that within a decade a second terminal will be needed at the renovated international airport – which will see more monies being pumped into the project.

BACKGROUND
The airport expansion contract was signed in 2011 under then President, Bharrat Jagdeo, and the sod was turned on March 23, 2014, under the truncated presidency of Donald Ramotar.

When the David Granger administration took over in 2015, it said that the very defective plan needed adjustments. The then Minister of Public Infrastructure, Patterson, said that upon assumption of office, the APNU+AFC administration found that only seven percent of the work was completed. Even with the sub-standard work, former Junior Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Jaipaul Sharma revealed that the contractor spent more on certain aspects of the project than was laid out in the contract.

However, he had not shared whether the contractor spent more than the contract sum. Sharma further said that the former APNU+AFC government would have decided whether to penalise the company for “breach of contract”.

The previous government had also stated that it would not spend a cent more on the project, but that was not the case as a change order seen by this newspaper indicated that the administration made at least one additional disbursement of GY$6.8M for the “extra time delay and costs for the prolongation of the project” by 807 days. The order also indicated that it was a payment, not for the first, but the third claim made by the contractor.

As the country awaits the completion of the project, which falls way below expectations, taxpayers are still obligated to repay a loan of US$138M to China, which forms part of the contract sum.