Beal forwards draft agreement for satellite launch site
By Gitanjali Singh
Beal Aerospace Technologies has forwarded a draft agreement for a satellite launch base in Guyana to the government and officials are due in two weeks to initiate negotiations on it. Prime Minister Sam Hinds said that the company was still lobbying in the US to get the required licences to transfer satellite technology to Guyana and that process could take as long as a year. However, in the interim, Hinds said, the company has forwarded a draft agreement to start negotiations with the government on the parameters for the investment in the Waini District. The company has identified a point next to the second lagoon in the Waini area as its satellite launch base and has been shopping around for a geotechnical engineer to generate the information necessary before construction of a launch pad and ancillary facilities can be started. Simultaneously, the firm has been working in the US to have the US State Department and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approve the licences it needs to transfer satellite technology to Guyana. "Beal at this moment is working in Washington to develop a favourable climate... to have the approval to transfer such technology to Guyana as we are not considered a threat in the use of such technology," Hinds said on Friday. One of the provisos of the draft agreement forwarded by Beal is for the government to forego its sovereign right of knowing about every aspect of the technology being transferred to Guyana. Hinds is of the view that once Beal gets a clear signal from the key players in the US that it will get the required approvals, it will then work earnestly to develop the site in Guyana. "In the interim, they would like to develop an agreement with us to come and operate in Guyana," said Hinds. Beal officials are due around September 6. Apart from requesting what Hinds dubbed as general investment requirements, Beal is also asking that arrangements be put in place for smooth customs clearance so that launches can take place in a timely manner. He indicated that some time in the future, the government will be moving to request formal proof of financial resources from the firm. Hinds said that as of now, the government is satisfied that the company has the money needed to make such an investment in Guyana. The company is attempting to have an agreement with the government on the basis of which it can spend money in Guyana doing the kind of tests it needs to develop a launch base. These tests are not required before an agreement because the company feels that such a launch base can be constructed in Guyana, given preliminary findings, Hinds said. Beal Aerospace Technologies is currently working on launching from Cape Canaveral until it gets the green light to operate from Guyana. If it is cleared by the US government departments, the investment will see over 500 direct jobs in the short to medium term and additional benefits to the economy via linkages.
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