Ministry meets stone suppliers over CJIA Expansion; terminal building to be completed by mid-year

The Public Infrastructure Ministry on Tuesday (March 14, 2017) engaged several local contractors to facilitate a link between them and China Harbour Engineering Company for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Modernisation Project.

According to the ministry, several of the suppliers would have previously bid for the project but were disqualified due to shortfalls in their submissions.

As such, Tuesday’s meeting sought to resolve the issue of redundancies.

The suppliers were given detailed information on the required documents and were allowed to broach their concerns and queries on the bidding process.

Minister Patterson warned the contractors to honour their deadline of November 30 or else there will be severe repercussions. The local suppliers were also informed that they have to meet all specifications, including size and chemical analyses, to be considered.

While the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company makes the decision, the Minister said all must be done to ensure that the local suppliers are in good standing for consideration.

The local suppliers are expected to resubmit their documents in the coming week

Among the officials were Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Minister within the Ministry, Annette Ferguson; Permanent Secretary, Geoffrey Vaughn; Project Manager, Carmichael Thorne; and officials from the and the CheddiJagan International Airport Company, including Chairman, Stephen Fraser, and Chief Executive Officer, Ramesh Ghir. Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, was also present.

The officials met with suppliers from BK International Inc., Toolsie Persaud Ltd., and Metallica Commodities Corp.

Public Relations Department of the CJIA has disclosed that the Airport’s new terminal building is expected to be completed by mid-year as the foundation works are moving apace.

The new building is being constructed in close vicinity from the existing terminal building.

Further, the runway extension is 56% percent completed.

Upon completion, the runway would be extended from 2270m to 3360m to accommodate aircraft up to B747-400.

Other changes would include a new remote apron; two boarding bridges to be installed and major renovations to the existing terminal building which would transform into the Departures Building.

The project which has a completion deadline of December 31, 2017, is being undertaken at the cost of US$150M.