Major issue to be ironed out before deal sealed with Beal -Dr Luncheon
By Gitanjali Singh
Negotiations between the government and Beal Aerospace Technologies of Texas have intensified with only one major issue still to be resolved before a deal is clinched, Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, said yesterday. Luncheon said it was his understanding that negotiations were set for conclusion last month, but he was not in a position yesterday to give the specifics of the major issue still to be resolved. However, he confirmed that this had to do with the acquisition and retention of land by the firm in establishing a satellite launch site in the Waini District of Guyana. Stabroek News was told that Beal wanted to buy all of the land that would be covered by its operation in the North West but the government had only wanted to sell 8,000 acres in keeping with the firm's initial proposal. The company wanted ten acres for its remote site, 26,000 acres as its primary site and 75,000 acres for a buffer zone. The government had been willing to give a long-term lease for the use of this land. However, this newspaper has been told that the government has agreed to sell the land Beal wants to buy but is attaching conditions to the sale relating to the use of the land. The government last week sent its firm proposal to the company and is still awaiting an official response from Beal but a government source yesterday said the signals are positive. "Once we get that response we are home," the source said. There were three issues outstanding at the time the government sent its firm proposal to Beal: the issue of land ownership; compensation for relocation of families within the proposed launch site and buffer zone; and government's commitment on the pre-approvals required by the Texan firm. The pre-approvals were given subject to other conditions which are attached and a strong counter-offer on the land ownership has been made. The government also wants Beal Aerospace to pay compensation to families who have to relocate from the area where the launch site base will be. It is not clear how many families will have to be relocated or how much land will have to be compensated for. Beal Aerospace Technologies is proposing to set up a satellite launch site in an area next to the Waini point. The company needs to reach an agreement with the Guyana Government before it can press its case at the US State Department for permission to transfer satellite technology to Guyana. However, before it actually sets up operation here, an environmental impact assessment study as well as geotechnical studies on the siting of the launch base in the Waini have to be done. The company plans to launch commercial satellites from Guyana over open seas. The project proposal is to assemble the satellite vehicle in Guyana with the actual manufacturing taking place in St Croix. The firm was working to meet a deadline to have its first launch by 2001, but because of difficulties in locating a permanent launch site in its initial search, it is now planning to use Cape Canaveral as a temporary launch site to meet that deadline. In the interim, it is pursuing Guyana as its option for a permanent launch base. Beal Aerospace Technologies first expressed interest in Guyana in 1997 but only returned in April of this year after plans to launch from Sombrero Island off Anguilla fell through.
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