Planned E-Gates at Cheddi Jagan Int’l Airport to be integrated with digital ID cards- Indar

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 November 2023, 7:23 by Denis Chabrol

Public Works Minister Deodat Indar on Monday said arrival automatic electronic gates for arriving passengers would soon be implemented at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and would be integrated with the digital identification card system.

He made the announcement at the opening of an aviation safety seminar that was held by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), saying that National Information Technology Advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister was working on a new system would see the elimination of paper immigration forms for arriving passengers who are holders of the digital ID cards.

“Your first-time travel, you’ll have to dock your information and after that, the minute you come, it recognises your face and it opens the gate because it has your information,” Mr Indar told participants.

The government recently signed a US$35.4 million contract with German-based company, Veridos Identify Solutions for the implementation of the e-ID card system in Guyana.

He also said that now that the Guyana government has approved a master plan for the further development of the Eugene F. Correia International Airport. “I believe the Airport Authority is working to get that in place because they have about 401 acres of land there  and it needs to be utilised in a way that can benefit the sector,” he said.

The idea of an automated system was floated in 2010 when a  more than US$1 million contract was signed with SITA Information Networking Computing USA, Inc. to supply and install a Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) and a Flight Information Display System (FIDS). And, in August 2019 government had announced that a contract was signed for the installation of a similar system.