CJIA’s US$150M and counting… The terminal building that Guyana is getting for US$42M

Jan 01, 2019 News

A 2011 contract with China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) had pegged a brand new, two-storey terminal building for the Timehri airport at a hefty US$42M.
However, local and overseas contractors, examining the costs, are convinced that the price was grossly inflated.
“When we look at the figures, and square footage, you can come up with a reasonable price for building this terminal. What we are supposed to be getting should not cost more than US$15M, with all the bells and whistles,” one contractor said.
He is involved in Government projects, locally, and has done work overseas.
A number of other contractors have also expressed shock at some of the prices that the Bharrat Jagdeo administration, in late 2011 agreed to in its contract with CHEC.
The shocker is that Guyana will not be getting that US$42M terminal which is supposed to house the departure and arrivals area.
Rather it has been drastically modified. Instead of a two storey building, with glass roof and highlights, the building is now one storey, and almost completed.
Instead of eight passenger bridges promised, the terminal will only have four.
Government has not been explaining what happened to the savings or the reasons for those modifications.
There are reports that although the airport is not yet commissioned, the brand new, smaller terminal building where the arrivals section is, is challenged for space.
Space constraints with the old airport were one of the main reasons why the airport expansion was undertaken.
The administration has also gutted the old terminal building and renovated it, not part of the original agreement.

The terminal building that Guyana is getting for US$42M.

The old building was supposed to razed or used for some other purpose.
The project, one of the costliest in terms of infrastructure for the country, has been dragging on since late 2011.
CHEC first proposed to the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), which was in Government that it wanted to build an airport. The project never went to tender.
Jagdeo’s government then signed on to the contract, days before elections and when he would have ended his constitutional two terms in office.
At the time of signing, the company had not even found the money. The financing agreement was inked a year later and construction started in 2013.
It meant that CHEC did not even do any preliminary works which would have helped to determine its costs.
Three governments have overlooked the project now.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure had committed to taking Kaieteur News on a tour but it never happened. Minister David Patterson was busy afterwards.
There has been several stories published since then but the administration has remained silent on the project.
In the project document, the cost for the two storey terminal, minus the passenger bridges and a car park, was US$42M with the runway and taxiway extension another US$58M. The costs include preliminaries, site investigations and design fees, for a total of US$138M.
The US$12M was supposed to be coming from Government as its counterpart funding.
In the “Background” of the agreement that the then government signed justifying the US$150M project, it was explained that the Government of Guyana has identified tourism as a priority in the country’s economic development plan and recognizes that improvement of Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is of paramount importance in order to promote a sustainable tourism industry. It was specific on the space issue.
In fact, this is what the contract says on the justification, “The existing airport terminal building is not currently capable of meeting peak traffic demand, or of expanding to meet the desired growth in passenger volume. It also cannot accommodate state-of-the-art airport terminal systems for passenger comfort, convenience and efficiency.”
According to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, recently, attempts to raise the matter in the National Assembly over time would have seen them being shut down by one-line answers by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, which is in charge of the project.
He said that under a new government of the People’s Progressive Party, it will review what went wrong.