Dear Editor,
Capt. A Mazahar Ally of Air Services Ltd. in a letter published in the last Sunday Stabroek (20th September), represented himself as a “substantial shareholder” of Ogle Airport Inc. (OAI), when, in fact, he, personally, has no shares in OAI. His Company, ASL, however, is a minority investor in the Airport, holding roughly 14% of the shares in OAI.
Immediately prior to his writing the media, Ally, inexplicably and irresponsibly, sent a series of threatening and grossly insulting emails to members of the OAI Board. He has now taken to the media to make completely unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations against the Airport which are entirely false and have absolutely no basis in fact. I respond with some reluctance to this entirely misplaced letter.
It is now well known that the Eugene F. Correia International Airport (EFCIA) is managed and operated under a comprehensive Agreement, entered into in 2001, between Ogle Airport Incorporated and the Government of Guyana. The management of the Airport is further strictly regulated by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and operates in compliance with all of the International Agreements which govern the operation of an International Airport.
The transformation of Ogle Airport, now the Eugene F. Correia International Airport, from a small aircraft airstrip in 2001 to a fully licenced Regional, International and Domestic Airport, is a Public Private Partnership success story that any country would be proud of. The private investment which made this possible was funded by the issue of shares offered to all of the private aircraft operators using the Airport at the time of the Agreement, including ASL, each with an equal opportunity to invest.
The Airport is governed by a qualified and highly respected Board of Directors consisting of:
Michael O. Correia Jnr.
Nicole Correia
Ronald Reece
Marcel Gaskin
Malcolm Chan-A-Sue
Anthony Mekdeci
Timothy Jonas
It’s worthy of note that four (4) of the seven (7) Directors represent minority shareholders.
Since the new government has come into office, both the Minster of Public Works, Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill, and the Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Hon. Deodat Indar, have visited the Airport, have been fully briefed on its operations and have been given an extensive tour of the Airport, including the construction site for the development of the Exxon Office Headquarters.
The investment by Exxon in the Airport’s development and their substantial aviation operations adds significant value and importance to its operations and benefit to the shareholders which we would expect Capt. Ally to understand and appreciate.
The current operational relationship between myself and ASL’s management, is good, so I am at a loss to understand Capt. Ally’s unprovoked diatribe in the media.
His assertion, for instance, that the maintenance of, what he incorrectly calls the “Capital Replacement Reserve Fund”, is sheer nonsense, as was explained in the Director’s Annual Report submitted and accepted at the last Annual General Meeting where ASL was represented. The Reserve Fund has long since ceased to be necessary since continuing capital expenditure improvement at the Airport have far outdistanced the need for a Reserve Fund originally required at the time of the Agreement and, in fact, the government was so advised some six (6) years ago. Again, this is a non-issue and not a matter of concern to the other Shareholders of the Company.
As for the Airport building a hangar facility for small operators, there are only two (2) small operators at the Airport adequately serviced by the Light Aircraft Park built four (4) years ago. Again, this is a non-issue.
The truth is that Capt. Mazahar Ally seems to be out of sync even with his own company’s operations at the Airport. His letter is no more than yet another senseless attempt by him to use the newspapers to revive a decade-old vendetta against the Airport.
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Mekdeci, A.A.
Chief Executive Officer
Ogle Airport Inc.
