Approximately six months after its rehabilitation, the Baramita Airstrip in Region One is back in a deplorable condition.
While residents believe that the contractor did a shoddy work, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure blamed the misuse of the runway.
Following media reports of the poor condition of the airstrip, officials from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority along with the project’s contractor visited the site to conduct an assessment.
The airstrip was recently rehabilitated by M. Ramzan Ally Construction to the tune of $70M.
But today, the runway is riddled with potholes and other defects.
[espro-slider id=49822]
Captain Learie Barclay, who frequents the area, attributed the deplorable condition to substandard work by contractor.
As seen in photographs of the runway, the bitumen layer is less than quarter of an inch thick.
In a public statement on the issue, the Ministry did not lay blame on the contractors.
The statement noted that there were a number of contributing factors including lack of routine maintenance and misuse of the runway.
Further, the Ministry said it will undertake inspections of all other airstrips where a similar method of sealing was used to ensure similar issues do not occur.
It also intends on reviewing the performance of maintenance contractors to ensure that projects are executed properly.
The Ministry said it will also discuss with village leaders at the upcoming National Toshaos Council on the usage and their responsibilities over airstrips in their village.
