Ogle Airport development to benefit from EC funding
Kaieteur News
January 9, 2007
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat announced yesterday that part of a 40.5 million euro European Commission (EC) grant to advance the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), will go towards funding Phase II of the Ogle Airport Development project .
CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington and European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Luis Michel signed the Financing Agreement for the 40.5 million euro grant at the Commission's headquarters in Brussels.
The EC will support the Caribbean Region in achieving its objective of regional economic integration and repositioning into the world economy.
In November last year, a new runway was commissioned as part of a multi-billion-dollar improvement plan for the Ogle Aircraft Incorporated (OAI).
The 600x18 metre runway, with a 13-metre wide taxiway connecting the runway to the parking apron and existing hangars is part of a three-phased improvement plan for the airport.
The next phase will see the addition of a one-storey terminal building for processing 100 passengers at a time and a new ATS control tower.
According to a source, when this is completed, the airport should be declared an official port of entry, especially since work entails extending the runway to 1,199 metres x 30 metres.
Local officials estimate that with the completion of the terminal, Ogle will be able to meet internationally accepted entry standards and will facilitate 20-seater air cargo flights from Brazil, Trinidad, Suriname and Venezuela.
With the addition of another official port of entry, could boost trade between Guyana and its other CARICOM counterparts.
The EC funding comes from the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) and is the largest and most important individual EDF package of support to the Caribbean Region.
The terms of the agreement also provide for support for the reduction of supply and demand for illegal drugs in the region.
CARICOM is contributing 900,000 euro to the programme.
Among the key programme components are support to the range of measures to implement the CSME and general support to the CARICOM Secretariat.
The Agreement covers support to the Caribbean Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) to enable it to provide CARIFORUM countries with technical support and training on macro-economic questions.
According to the CARICOM Secretariat, the agreement will also see support going to the improvement and harmonised production of economic statistical data at the regional and national levels in CARICOM.
Under the Agreement, support will be extended to the external trade negotiations carried out by CARIFORUM countries, through the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), based in Barbados.
The CRNM is in charge of coordinating trade negotiations for the Region, in particular the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. Assistance will also be rendered to the OECS Representation in Geneva dealing with WTO matters.
In addition, the Agreement covers support for the establishment and operation of the Caribbean Institute of Translation and Information to be located in Suriname; and support for the development of the Caribbean Information and Communication Society.
“[This] event marks a milestone in a process involving a series of activities which commenced in November 2005, in Martinique at the Clovis Beauregard Conference on Regional Cooperation in the Caribbean,” Carrington stated.
He added that during that Conference, the senior representatives of the Commission and of the Caribbean took the opportunity to hold a Mid-Term Review Meeting on the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme of the 9th EDF. It was a tough but very valuable meeting.
Following that meeting, representatives of CARIFORUM and the Commission's Delegation in Guyana, began work on a programming vision which had arisen out of the Mid-Term Review Meeting.