The state-owned Guyana Oil Company Limited (GUYOIL) yesterday commissioned a $700M Aviation Services Fuel Handling facility at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri.
GINA said that President Donald Ramotar, who officially commissioned the facility, said that it will see a big increase in terms of the flow of traffic at CJIA.
Present at the event also were Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh and Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn.
According to GINA, the US$3.5 million project is phase one of an undertaking which encompasses the construction of the terminal at Providence, East Bank Demerara. This facility, GINA said, is located on one acre of land and includes storage filtration units.
Ramotar emphasized that the project will introduce competition in off-jet fuel services in Guyana.
“It is expected that this competition that is being introduced now will help to make aviation fuel prices more competitive, and to help also to increase the flow of traffic through the Cheddi Jagan International Airport… some people are saying we are investing in facilities like this when some roads in villages need to be repaired. While those roads are important, and we are trying our best to fix them, the investment into this airport is to help increase the revenue of our country,” the President said, according to GINA.
Ramotar said that the modernisation and expansion of the CJIA is not a luxury, but rather, a great necessity.
“We have a great tourist product, many of us have travelled and without boasting we can say that our product is as good as any…what we don’t have is the infrastructure to develop this product, and that is one of the reasons it is so necessary for us to have a modern international airport and a longer runway as the first essential investment to develop our tourism sector,” President Ramotar said, according to GINA.
Finance Minister Singh, who congratulated GUYOIL’s board and management on the achievement said that notwithstanding the challenges, Guyanese live in times where they ought to be excited for their country.
“I see today’s investment against the background of a wave of optimism demonstrated not only by Guyanese, but regional and international investors who are literally putting their money where their mouths are,” Singh noted.
Singh said that he is particularly gratified with the commissioning because there is a stereotype that the public sector cannot be outstanding. “I believe that GUYOIL is an example that defies that stereotype,” he said, according to GINA.
