CJIA expansion gets US$8M without Parliamentary approval

…final design for new terminal to be completed by March – Ramesh Ghir   

The US$150M Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project is progressing on schedule and despite the fact that the opposition had not approved expenditure allocated last year in the Budget, funds were still provided from

CJIA’s CEO Ramesh Ghir

the national coffers.
This was confirmed by Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, who this past week, met with members of the media and declared that what was done despite the voted down provisions was lawful. He then directed attention to the recent ruling by Chief Justice (Ag) Ian Chang.
“It was lawful at that time and it is lawful now,” declared Benn, who was confronted with the fact that the money was spent before the court ruling by Chang.
He said that the project started with the US$20.7M that had been advanced to the Chinese contractor in 2012 after which the 2013 monies were paid over.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Balraj Balram, had said that the Minister of Finance had prepared a Statement of Excesses in which he detailed to the House that the $1.6B (US$8.3M) had been spent on the airport project.
Prior to the recent ruling by Chief Justice (Ag) Chang, the Opposition had voted down this provision when it came up for consideration on December 12, 2013.
Benn was adamant that monies that come to Guyana from foreign International Financial Institutions such as is the case with the airport project, has to be spent.
“It would be the worst thing in the world for a project that was previously approved and the funding comes, that you do not spend that money.”
He said that should this be the case, all foreign-funded projects would collapse.
“The money has to come and be spent,” said Benn.
Chief Executive Officer of CJIA, Ramesh Ghir, in providing a summary of the operations of the airport in 2013, said that as it relates to the expansion project, more than 4,500 truckloads of sand have already been dumped.
A site office has been completed and according to the officials, the final design for the terminal is expected to be completed by the end of March.
He said that for only the second time since its incorporation, the airport managed to rake in revenue in excess of $1B.
According to Ghir, in 2009 the airport would have raked in a mere $599M.
Expenditure for 2013 amounted to $588M as compared to the $493M spent for the same period in 2012.
Arrivals Plummet
Another significant set of statistics for the operations of the airport was the fact that passenger arrivals plummeted. According to Ghir, there was a decrease of 12 per cent in passenger arrivals.

A model of the new terminal to be constructed under the CJIA expansion project.

He said that immigration processed 235,967 passengers during 2013 as compared to 267,652 for the same period in 2012.
He blamed the reduction in incoming passengers on the fact that during the course of the year Delta Airlines ceased its operations in Guyana.
Delta Airlines was responsible for 15 per cent of the market share moving an average of 75,000 passengers annually.
Total Passenger Movements for 2013 amounted to 479,177compared to 543,374 in 2012.
As it relates to the airlines using the airport he noted that in February last Caribbean Airlines Limited, launched direct flights between the John F Kennedy Airport – New York and CJIA – Timehri.
“This supplemented the already existing direct flights between Guyana and Toronto, Canada.”
He reported that Suriname Airways continues to provide twice weekly roundtrip service on the Parimaribo-Georgetown-Miami route with its 126-seat B737-300 aircraft.
LIAT, he said, occasionally provides service on the Barbados- Georgetown route using the ATR 72 aircraft.
This airline has switched the bulk of its flying to the Ogle International Airport.
He noted, too, that Fly Jamaica commenced operations last August while Travelspan commenced flights out of the CJIA, in December.
Ghir pointed out also that last November the Venezuelan Government launched its inaugural flight of their National Carrier, CONVIASA Aero, to Guyana.
That airline commenced operations on January 25, 2014.