$290M scanner at CJIA down five months after commissioning
The scanner which is designed to among other things, detect explosives in luggage and cargo
Its a situation of a few steps backwards at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport where a GYD $290 million 3D Scanner is down, hampering the hassle-free screening and processing of outgoing passengers at the the country’s main airport.
The CTX 5800 Explosive Detection System (EDS) was commissioned in May of this year by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill in the presence of a number of airport and security officials.
BIG Smith News Watch learnt that shortly after the scanner was commissioned, it began developing issues on and off until its shutdown several weeks ago.
The scanner when it was commissioned receive a lot of press as officials boasted about its capabilities which Minister Edghill stated back then “will improve Avaition Security”
On Thursday morning BIG Smith News Watch reached out to Minister Edghill for a comment on inoperable equipment.
“We’ve had to do some alternative operations to facilitate both passengers’ flights and cargo for shipments and every effort is being made to have the equipment back to normal. It is a state-of-the-art piece of equipment and these are the challenges that you face sometimes with this kind of technology” Public Works Minister Edghill told this publication.
Staff at the airport have indicated that they are sometimes at the receiving end of harsh comments from passengers and travellers because those passengers who are aware of the presence of the machine and and its functions, but become annoyed when they are asked to open up their luggage for a manual search as against their luggage going through the scanner.
Minister Edghill said the matter is being addressed and a team is expected to arrive in Guyana shortly to examine the machine. He made it clear that notwithstanding the inoperable machine, luggage and cargo are still being scanned at another location of the airport.
“We have facilities that are being used to ensure that neither goods nor passengers, passengers bags or goods are being compromised in terms of inadequate checks..what is wrong with the equipment –I don’t think I can make public but the adequacy of what we anticipated or were experiencing has not continued” Stated Edghill.
In May of this year, the machines commissioned included a CTX 5800 Checked Lug-gage Scanner ($290M), 2 Smiths HI-SCAN 6040-2is Hand Luggage Scanners ($64M), 2 Rapiscan 620 Dual View Hand Luggage Scanner ($36M) and a IONSCAN 600 Portable Explosive & Narcotics Trace Detector ($15M).
