Govt. renews Ogle lease seven years in advance

Aug 18, 2019 News

The Government of Guyana has renewed a lease to the Ogle Airport Inc. (OAC) for a period of 50 years. The renewal was published in the August 3, 2019 edition of The Official Gazette.

Ogle International Airport

In the 2001 Master Lease, the total surveyed area covers 441.1 acres. In pg. 2488, item #66 of the August 3, 2019 edition of the Gazette, the land is stated to be surveyed and recorded by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) in May 2019. Block A totals 69.2 acres; Block C totals 329.27 acres, and Plot T totals three acres. The three parcels of land total 401.89 acres.

GLSC Commissioner, Trevor Benn

Hence, the renewed lease accounts for 39.21 acres less than the original one.
Further, the lease issued by the GLSC was executed in April 2018 by its Commissioner, Trevor Benn, and the Chairman of OAI. It has an effective date of January 1, 2018. This means that the lease was signed one year before its survey date in 2019.
This renewal was done seven years before the previous lease is set to expire. The original lease did not expire. The 2001 lease agreement does not list a provision to account for the extension of the lease before its end.
The land was leased for commercial purposes, for the specific purpose of establishing and maintaining an aerodrome. In the 2001 lease, paragraphs 2.3 and 16.6 provide for Satisfactory Performance of the Airport Operator by an Airport Review Panel (ARP), which shall include a member of the Inter American Development Bank.
The review is to be done one year before the expiration of the 25-year contract. It is unclear whether that review has been done, since the calculated completion of the lease would be 2026.
It should also be reminded that the major office complex of ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is currently in construction on 15 acres of the land. The lease of those 15 acres was not contemplated in the original lease.
It is unclear whether any Government agency approved the utilisation of the 15 acres for any purpose besides the establishment and maintenance of an aerodrome.