Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson yesterday said that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project is on course to meet its December, 2017 deadline and while this year’s budget allocation for the works is nearly exhausted, the government will soon access the remainder to facilitate the completion.
“In relation to financing, it is no secret, because it will come out here, we have nearly expended the amounts of money allocated in 2017,” Patterson yesterday told the press during a site visit.
Patterson was at the time giving an update on current state of works for the US$150M airport modernization project. He said that while 2017 allocation has been nearly depleted, taking the aggregated total spent so far to about $79M of the total, government can and will approach the Exim Bank of China to release the remainder sums to complete the project.
Project Manager Carmichael Thorne explained that in the May to December period, the bulk of the money will be used since it is the phase which requires the bulk of imports and high priced pre-fabricated construction materials needed to finish the job.
“If you look at it from a layman’s perspective, it looks that way as if much more is to be done but if you go to build your house and you go and buy a load of sand or you buy something more expensive then you see what we are talking about. The work that was being done previously and the degree of these works, like the ground improvement and sand fill, volumetrically they are more and can be deceptive if you are measuring work… all the materials have been shipped and that is a significant part of the 43% of the work remaining,” he said.
Giving a general breakdown of the project, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Geoffrey Vaughn said that currently 311 persons, including 144 foreign and 167 locals, form the project’s workforce. They use a total of 162 machines in their everyday work at the site.
To meet the deadline, the contractor, China Harbour and Engineering Company (CHEC), plans to hire additional workers and bring equipment from its Jamaica branch into the country.
To further accelerate works at Timerhi, the contractor scrapped the proposal of a prefabricated terminal and is currently forging ahead with a concrete structure to be used temporarily. After the project is completed, the CJIA Corporation is free to use the building as it sees fit. “This will just be here temporarily and we are not looking right now at what it will be used for after because we just want to get it done, get that terminal moved here so that works can accelerate and be done for you all by the year-end deadline,” Patterson explained, while giving a tour of the structure.
The newly constructed arrivals terminal is expected to be completed by the end of June and its interior will mirror the current arrivals terminal.
Weather
Yesterday, workers were busy on site and Thorne assured that the building will be finished on time, barring unbearable rains.
The weather was another factor Patterson pointed to that could hinder reaching deadline during a tour of the expanded north eastern and south western extensions of the runway. He said currently the two runways were at 80% and 60% completion, respectively. “The most pressing thing now is the weather,” he said.
In terms of the scope and percentage progress of the other areas seen yesterday, the apron and taxiway still require the most work. Only 5% of the new taxiway was completed.
The new arrivals terminal building was at 30%, renovation of the existing terminal at 10% and the new boarding corridor with boarding bridges at 10%, Vaughm explained.
The existing terminal will be completely rehabilitated and used for departures only. A boarding corridor with two passenger boarding bridges will connect directly to the terminal buildings.
However, nearly all relocations, including of the police outpost, GDF engineering corps and residents, have been completed.
The APNU+AFC government while in opposition had been critical of the CJIA expansion project and had voted against funding for it in light of concerns about the high cost to taxpayers and the potential relocation of some 1,500 residents of the Timehri North area.
But when it took office in 2015, the project was re-examined and after week-long discussions with the contractor, the decision was made to move forward with extensions and renovations rather than demolition and rebuilding, resulting in better value for money.
A one-week-long discussion with CHEC resulted in a US$46.8M claim made by the company being reduced to roughly half of the amount. Some of the issues responsible for the claim included design changes and cost overruns.
Prior to the discussions with CHEC, Patterson had told Stabroek News that the ballooning cost for the project was not fiscally realistic and indicated that it should cost less than US$150M.
Patterson reiterated yesterday that the project will not exceed the $150M and that it will be ready for December, 2017. “We will not go over…don’t panic,” he stressed.
