CHINA Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has bagged its fourth major project in the region since it set up shop in Jamaica last year, with the signing of an agreement to expand the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana last Friday.

The construction company said that, as with the infrastructural projects that it is undertaking in Jamaica, the China Exim Bank will fund the construction of a modern terminal building and the extension of the runway by 1,066 metres to reach a total of 3,336 metres at the airport located in Timehri, 41 kilometres south of Guyana's capital, Georgetown. China Exim is providing US$138 million ($11.9 billion) in financing.

CHEC said that it has been "making major strides in its efforts to improve the infrastructural development throughout the Caribbean" over the past few months, having also secured agreements in Cayman, Mexico and the Bahamas since September.

The Chinese firm established its regional headquarters in Jamaica in April 2010 after signing an agreement with the Jamaican government in 2009 to be the general contractor under the Ministry of Transport and Works and the National Works Agency for two main projects — the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Works and the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP).

The JDIP is a five-year, US$400- million islandwide public works programme funded by a loan of US$340 million secured by the Road Maintenance Fund from China Exim Bank at an interest rate of three per cent to be repaid over 20 years.

The Palisadoes Road project involves raising the roadway eight feet (2.4 metres), constructing a boardwalk which can accommodate jogging and an entertainment facility, at a cost of US$65.7-million, of which US$55.8 million is to be funded by the China Exim Bank.

The Government is expected to fund the remaining cost on both projects.

CHEC is also working on securing the deal to construct the leg of Highway 2000 that will run from Spanish Town to Ocho Rios, which will provide a highway link between the south and the north coasts of the island

In September, the company won a contract with Mexico to construct phase one of the Manzanillo Container Terminal, two container berth coastlines and a 28.5 hectare container yard and then in October it announced that it had signed an agreement with the Bahamas to construct the Abaco Port and build a bridge that will link Little Abaco and North Abaco Islands. Also in October, it announced that after a few months of delay it expects it will begin construction of a cruise berthing facility in the Cayman Island capital, George Town.

Source: Jamaica Observer