Satellite investment promising -Beal upbeat about Waini area
By Gitanjali Singh
Guyana is now a strong competitor with Anguilla for the Beal Aerospace Inc's satellite launch site multi-million dollar investment. Beal officials were due to leave the country this morning upbeat about Guyana's potential for such an investment, having visited the Waini area. "We are incredibly encouraged by what we found in the actual site visit going up and down the Waini River by boat. And we have just been thrilled with the enthusiasm and cooperation we got from the government and all the various agencies and divisions. We are going back very, very excited and we are going back to put together more of a proposal, more of a plan as quickly as we can," Wade Gates, Beal's director of corporate affairs told Stabroek News yesterday. Beal's interest in Guyana, which was renewed after its investment in Anguilla's Sombrero Island had been stalled, was preliminary as it was not certain whether the swampy conditions in the north of Guyana would be suitable for the construction of a launch site. However, Gates and two other Beal officials and an engineer arrived in Guyana on Monday night to view the site first-hand and it was discovered that the land could be drained quickly to facilitate the investment. "Right now we are incredibly encouraged as different options and technologies can be used to drain the land and we will need to do some core sampling of the area to see what is beneath...," Gates said hours after coming back from the Waini district in Region One. The company expects that in three weeks time, it would be armed with the data it needs to say if it would be investing in Guyana instead of Sombrero Island. The government is also optimistic about Guyana getting this investment, which would be the first major one in eight years. "I am extremely upbeat about the possibilities of getting this investment. I am more optimistic now than I was on Sunday," Deochand Narain, director of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) said yesterday after escorting the team to the interior. Narain said the people of Region One are also keen on Guyana securing this investment and this includes the regional chairman, businessmen and farmers in the Waini area, who were aware of Beal's interest through a newspaper report. "We will do everything to be the site for this investment and if there is anything lacking in our approach, we are willing to make adjustments," Narain asserted. Beal first expressed interest in Guyana in 1997, but had opted for Sombrero Island which comes under Anguilla, a British-dependent territory. The company secured a 49-year lease from the Anguillan administration but execution of it was dependent on the British Government approving the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study on the investment on the island. This study has found that almost 70% of the Masked Booby bird, which nests on the island will be destroyed by the investment and the nesting ground for most Caribbean birds will also be decimated. This has caused the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Anguilla's National Trust to object to the investment. The latter wants the island preserved as a museum, being an old mine site. Asked whether this was not the reason why Beal Aerospace was forced to return to Guyana, Gates said it was because of the extended time it was taking to get the British Government's approval for the project which has now caused it to be eight months behind schedule. The EIA was given to the British Government in October 1998, and Gates said it is not believed that a formal review of it has begun. Gates said this is why the company is encouraged by the geographic picture Guyana presents, but more so by the "very pro-active and very very cooperative nature of the government so far." The government has undertaken to give a quick and timely review to the firm. How serious does this make Beal's Aerospace interest in Guyana if it is ranked from one to 10? "I would say 10. We are very, very serious in moving forward and seeing what we can put together with the Guyana Government in a long-term partnership that would be good for both of us," Gates said. He said that on returning to Texas, the company will pursue engineering studies on Guyana and the team will be back several times over the next few weeks to expedite the process. The company wants to launch its first satellite by 2001 and this means that before another month passes, it will have to make a decision on whether its site for that launch will be Guyana or Sombrero Island. Guyana's advantages include being closer to the equator, having a workforce which can be relocated or transported easily, having a location with no need for a submarine station or a dock and having a government which is extra keen on the investment. Sombrero Island's advantages are that it is a remote location and that it already has a concrete and steel foundation. Gates said that in the next several weeks, the company will seek to establish a framework for the possible investment in Guyana which includes the types of approval that it will be getting. The company needs at least a five-mile radius of land to buy or lease on a long term for the actual launch site and will need some additional land for its offices. It is looking at an area on the Waini next to a lagoon on the northern bank of the river with clear launch access. Gates said the firm will use its global positioning satellite map to determine which site will be best. Accompanied by David Spoede, director of government relations and Mark McLeod, director of special projects, Gates visited Omai Gold Mines Ltd yesterday to see how the firm developed a self-sustaining community. "It was interesting for us to see what they did and how they have been successful with some of the things we may need to do here as well," said Gates. That served to further bolster Guyana's case for the investment. If the company decides that Guyana is the place to invest, it will take a year and a half to construct its base which will create 500 jobs and cost millions. The company has already assembled all that it needs to put down the investment and only needs the relevant approvals to begin work. Gates said work will also begin in the next few weeks on drafting legal documents for its possible investment here and this will be time consuming, given the size of the agreements the government had with Omai. Gates noted the high profile of French Guiana because of the Ariane spaceport and said the same can be the case for Guyana.
|