With its baggage scanner still out of operation, the management of the Eugene F. Correia International Airport (EFCIA) has formally requested assistance from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said.
As he responded to questions last week during the consideration of estimates before the Committee of Supply in the National Assembly, Edghill said the EFCIA at Ogle has asked that the CJIA loan it a scanner until their problem is rectified.
“We are not sitting on our hands. There is correspondence from the Eugene F. Correia International Airport to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport of which this minister would have seen, requesting assistance that available assets that are at Timehri be loaned to them to ensure that our national security and our architecture are adequately maintained,” he told the National Assembly.
The baggage scanner has been non-functioning at the EFCIA at Ogle for months and had posed challenges to international passengers and security officers. Passengers are subjected to individual bag checks at designated counters and are required to empty their luggage and repack them after the security check is completed.
Following questions about the matter, Ogle Airport Inc had issued a statement saying that the X-ray scanner was made in China and the global supply chain problems have made it difficult to obtain spares. As a result, the EFCIA is in the process of replacing it with an American-made RAPISCAN Scanner, also used at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
It said that the operations of the X-ray machine had been seriously affected “on and off” for some time now due to the frequent fluctuation of power supplied to the Airport. The Airport’s management is currently working with the Guyana Power and Light to address this problem since a great deal of other highly technical equipment at the Airport can also be affected, it said.
In the meantime, OAI said that passenger baggage and cargo are subjected to 100% visual inspection which it said is actually preferred by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ensuring that security is not compromised though, admittedly, time consuming. The Airport apologized to the public for the inconvenience caused by this.
