A heliport being constructed at Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara has raised questions about how approval for its construction was given and about air safety.
It would appear that the heliport is intended to be a base for the helicopters servicing the nascent oil and gas industry. Questions have been raised as to how major construction is underway when aviation safety, regulatory and sea defence concerns could arise.
“We are aware that there is a construction there. We have seen it and we are significantly concerned about it, notwithstanding that it appears to be done in secret,” spokesperson for Trans Guyana Airways and Ogle Airport Inc (OAI), Kit Nascimento told Stabroek News yesterday, when contacted.
The concerns come even as the Environmental Protection Agency declared that it has not yet given approval for the facility. ExxonMobil has also distanced itself from the construction of the multi-million heliport which workers at the site say is being erected to serve the US oil major.
“They made an application and as far as three weeks ago, no they have not gotten approval,” Head of the EPA Dr. Vincent Adams told Stabroek News yesterday.
Adams explained that he was out of the country for three weeks and will check on Monday to see if permission was granted during that period as up to the point of him leaving, no approval was granted.
Yesterday, Stabroek News visited the facility, located next to the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority’s Lusignan pump station, and workers were forging ahead with construction. Some explained that it should be completed by February next year and was being constructed by ExxonMobil.
However, ExxonMobil’s Public Relations and Government Affairs Advisor Janelle Persaud said that the company doesn’t own helicopters and was in “no way” responsible for the construction works being carried out.
Shedding some clarity was Director of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCCA), Retired Colonel Egbert Field, who informed that the facility is owned by a local company named Orinduik Development Inc.
Field said that the construction aspect has been approved by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) and no-objections were given by the Ministry of the Presidency and his agency but that after completion it still has to meet rigorous standards testing.
He said that anyone wanting to build an airstrip or heliport has to apply to MPI for approval. MPI will then submit the application to other specified agencies asking for them to provide feedback with either their objections or no-objections.
“First thing is the GCAA don’t give construction (permission) we would do a no-objection after an analysis,” he said.
“If an individual wants to construct one, they will apply to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure. It would have to be supported by the GCAA, Ministry of the Presidency, the EPA and I think a few others. They would then get a no-objection. So it is the Ministry of Public Infrastructure that gives permit, not us. When it is constructed, the company or agency will inform MPI’s airstrip division, which has its own inspections team, and they will inform the GCAA to have a look at the airport, in order to certify,” he added.
In relation to the Lusignan facility, Field said, “As far as I am aware, the heliport being constructed is being done by a company which has made their application to MPI and which GCAA has no objection to. The name of the company is Orinduik Incorporated, development or company, something like that.”
Assure
The GCAA Director said that he wants to assure that the facility will have to be held to the same high standards. “We analyze and all of that before we give a no-objection to any aerodrome. If we consider it unsafe, we object; say if according to our laid down procedures we find any infractions then we object and if everything is according to those laid down procedures, we give the no-objection. We don’t just give because it is this or that person. Everything is done according to the rules,” he said.
But Trans Guyana and OAI say that they will register their concerns about air safety to the GCAA because given the location of the facility, it seems that its air traffic path coordinates will be interlinked.
“If there is indeed an aviation facility being constructed there, it is directly in the flight path of the EF Correia International Airport (at Ogle) and in the area zoned for that airport. So it has drawn our concern and we will make those known to the GCAA,” Nascimento said.
Sources told this newspaper that Orinduik Development is owned by, among others, two former Guyana Defence Force officers.
Online information about the company shows that its Managing Director is Brian Backer while the late former Chairman of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Hugh Denbow was the Board Director of Policies and Regulations of the company. Denbow was murdered earlier this year.
In June of this year the company established an aviation polytechnic which it said would cater for the emerging oil and gas sector here.