Rocket launching could fuel Guyana economic thrust - Financial Times Guyana Chronicle November 10, 1999 THE Financial Times newspaper of London has reported on the plan by an American company to set up a rocket launch base in the Northwest district here. Here is the article by Caribbean correspondent Canute James which was published on November 3. In a remote corner of north-western Guyana is a sparsely populated patch of land which the prime minister hopes will play a role in reshaping the Caribbean country's economy. Sam Hinds says the Waini district is an ideal location for a spaceport - a commercial rocket launching facility which will provide "a quantum leap for Guyana into the new millennium". Mr Hinds' government is negotiating with US investors interested in building the spaceport, which would make the country a player in the $50bn a year commercial space industry. A successful conclusion to the talks, expected in six weeks, would be a big help to the English-speaking republic. Its economy, based on mining (gold and bauxite) and agriculture (rice and sugar), is expected by the government to expand moderately this year after contraction of 1.3 per cent last year. "This will be a very good non-traditional investment for Guyana," says Mr Hinds. "We have been dealing with traditional sectors up until now, so this will be a significant departure for us." Beal Aerospace of Texas, founded in 1997 to design and launch rockets, plans to launch its first payload in 2001, but may have to do so from shared facilities at Cape Canaveral. Over the past two years Beal Aerospace has been studying the Caribbean region for a location for its commercial rocket launching facility. "Guyana does offer all the conditions we are seeking," says Wade Gates, director of corporate affairs. "These include a remote location, sparsely inhabited, and which is open to the ocean to the north and the east. It should also be as close as possible to the equator." Beal Aerospace plans to launch satellites for private companies. Proximity to the equator, where the earth's rotation is fastest, allows satellites to go into orbit with less fuel than if launched from further north. The Private Sector Commission, representing Guyana's business community, is supporting the government's efforts to conclude an agreement with Beal Aerospace. It has asked the government to offer the company tax concessions to secure an agreement. "Systems should be put in place to avoid unnecessary delays over issues such as land availability, fiscal concession and government licences," the commission says. "This might not make us as big as Kourou, but it could change our fortunes significantly," says a businessman in Georgetown, Guyana's capital. Kourou in French Guiana is the site of the French government's space station, which leases facilities to the European Arianespace consortium. "Kourou brings the French hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Depending on the nature of the agreement with the US company, Guyana will benefit significantly." Neither the government nor Beal Aerospace is publicly stating the potential value of the investment in the spaceport and the likely returns to Guyana's economy. The basic civil works, which include control buildings, fuel storage, a launch pad and a 10,500ft runway, will cost about $50m, says Mr Hinds. Lease and royalty payments, jobs and local supplies will be the longer term benefits to the economy. Benefits from such an investment would support Guyana's pressured economy. The country, the size of the UK, has a population of 800,000 people, all but a few living on the coast. Beal Aerospace studied Guyana after being frustrated in its earlier efforts to locate its facility on a islet in the north-east Caribbean. It had identified Sombrero Island, a ward of Anguilla, a British possession, as an ideal location. However, objections from environmentalists, including the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, scuttled the location. An environmental impact assessment for Waini will be needed before the investment is approved, say Guyanese officials. But Beal Aerospace is less certain than is Mr Hinds about a quick conclusion to negotiations. "We do not know how long this will take," says Mr Gates. One potentially contentious issue involves the land which the company wants to use. The facility will have a sterile area of about five miles from the prime launching point. Government officials say Beal wanted to buy all the land that would be used directly and indirectly by the facility, but the government is willing to sell only 8,000 acres. Beal requested 10 acres for the launch site, 26,000 acres as its primary site and 75,000 acres for a buffer zone. The government has been willing to give a long-term lease for the land's use, as it is concerned about possible resale by investors to parties to which it might not approve. There is also concern in Guyana that the spaceport is planned in the Essequibo region, which makes up two thirds of Guyana and to which Venezuela has just renewed a century-old claim. But a spokesman for Guyana's foreign ministry says: "We cannot allow these considerations to impede our economic progress. Guyana will never cede Essequibo which is our economic heartland. We are seeking a negotiated solution to this." The venture will need US government approval of Guyana as a country to which missile technology can be exported. The US wants to ensure the technology does not fall into the wrong hands, says Mr Hinds. "We are eager for this investment," he says. "This is an activity for the future of the country. It is high-tech and will propel Guyana into a new environment." A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples