Minister Edghill dispute ‘repairs being done to CJIA runway’

Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill, has declared that no repair is expected to be
undertaken on the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) as was reported in one of the daily
newspapers.
Edghill stressed that the article is “a gross misconception.” The article headline published on
March 17 stated “$15M more to fix rehabilitated CJIA runway.” The article also said that the
works come mere months after the runway at the airport was commissioned in September, 2021.
Edghill disclosed that contrary to what is said in the article, the $15M has been allotted for the
repair of the Taxiway Charlie at the airport. He revealed that Taxiways are the roadways that
airplanes use to get to and from the runway. They connect the runway with the ramp and parking
area.
“[The] Taxiway Charlie has been in a state of disrepair that was not a part of the Chinese
contract. The Cheddi Jagan International Airport is responsible for that as a corporation and that
is the Taxiway Charlie that is being addressed. This is not the runway, this is taxiway,” Edghill
reiterated. The public works minister revealed that the repairs to the taxiway are part of the
overall modernisation of the CJIA.
“The maintenance of taxiways are normal things. It is just like a road where the aircraft has to
use to get to the runway. Time after time various pieces of equipment and machinery use that,
they are dripping of oil, there are cracks, damage as a result of weight and taxiway Charlie has
experienced some amount of deterioration and all that we are doing is fixing taxiway Charlie
which is separate and distinct from the new runway that was built,” he explained. The minister
noted further that the repairs to the taxiway forms part of multi-million-dollar contracts which
were signed in August by the CJIA and several contractors. He added that some of the other
works being undertaken include the construction of an office building and repairs to the
international apron.