After years of controversy encompassing three administrations, the PPP/C government and CHEC have sealed an agreement on the troubled expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri which will see the Chinese contractor doing US$9m in additional works at its own cost.
The expanded works are to be completed by December 31st 2021. The deal would appear to be a significant win for the government which had warned of legal action against China Harbour and Engineering Company (CHEC) if it didn’t remedy certain defects by December 31st this year. President Irfaan Ali had also visited the US$150m project in September and had expressed dissatisfaction at the state of the project.
It is unclear what prompted the decision by CHEC to undertake the extra US$9m in works when it had originally been seeking more funding from the government to complete the project. Observers have postulated that had the government taken CHEC to court there could have been a significant impact on the future use of Chinese companies in the major forthcoming projects. It is also possible that the Chinese government may have had some influence on the deal. Beijing’s Ambassador here, Cui Jianchun had accompanied Ali on his tour of the airport project.