The European Union (EU) grant aid, which will be pumped into the second phase of the extension of the airstrip at the Ogle Airport Incorporated, will have to be restructured allowing government a hand in the arrangement, Transport Minister Robeson Benn has said.
Caricom was asked to intervene to assist the company with soliciting the funding from the EU to continue works on the existing runway, extending it to 4,000 feet and providing runway lighting. The added features would allow larger aircraft in the Dash 8 class to operate from Ogle to all regional and neighbouring destinations with enhanced options for the travelling public.
During an interview with Stabroek News recently, Benn denied knowledge of any ‘hold up’ with the disbursement of the funding.
“I don’t know that there’s a hold up… I am aware that there is some discussion as to the structure of the loan, that the loan necessarily would have to go into an entity that the government has ownership,” he said.
The minister said international funding could not simply be taken and put into private hands and he justified the need for what he termed the “necessary restructuring” of the arrangement.
Asked whether the government wanted a hand in the agreement, Benn responded, “The government must have a hand in the arrangement with respect to the ownership; government couldn’t give out the entire leases and everything without having some ownership in the holding companies.”
He noted however that he did not have all the details in the matter since the Ministry of Finance was dealing with it, but stated that “fundamentally government could not just take the money and pass it on to a private entity
