2$I ties ([[on0oEil to 1 aFres oI airport land Ior years

ExxonMobil is expected to begin construction of its local headTuarters by next week at the Eugene ) &or reia Airport 6uch a venture has been made possible by the Ogle Airport Inc OAI 7he company gave Exxon Mobil access to acres of land while several small local operators continue the years long wait to access land

ExxonMobil¶s local subsid iary, E66O signed a Memo randum of Understanding MoU with OAI on -uly ,

ExxonMobil will now be in control of the land for a minimum of years

7he airport land is owned by the 6tate and the period granted by OAI to E66O exceeds the *overnment¶s Master /ease timeline by

years 7herefore, OAI¶s kind offer to ExxonMobil had to receive the blessings of the A31U A)& *overn ment Kaieteur News saw a copy of the signed MoU

In this document, OAI agreed, during the tenure of the MoU, to not offer the use of the land to anyone with out E66O¶s consent Avia tion operatives at Ogle say that this action is in com plete contrast to “the strong arm tactics and threats of re possessing lands which OAI had approved for use by lo cal aviation companies ´

OAI agrees, based on &lause three of the MoU, that Esso is authorized to commence construction of E66O¶s facilities without a sublease In contrast, *uyanese applicants were made to wait several years for their subleases prior to moving a brick

In fact, several small do mestic aviation operators are still waiting for OAI to deal with their reTuests for land and other facilities at the airport

7hrough the MoU, E66O is not only protected from any breach of agreement by OAI, but will have the right to continue to possess the land if a breach occurs E66O agreed to

U6 , for years

, and certain “small in creases´

pay

7he proposed lease pay ments are considered mi nuscule having regard for the estimated value of the land in the location itself which is valued at M 5eal estate of this type on the neighbourhood would attract a minimum annual payment of M

E66O will pay OAI U6 , for comple tion of infrastructure, drain age, roads etc to be done by OAI to give E66O access even though it is unclear how much all of this would actually cost and how much of it will come from OAI¶s shareholders¶ funds :hilst E66O may terminate the agreement at any time, and for any reason, without any liability whatsoever, no such right is afforded to OAI as in such a case OAI accepts E66O¶s facilities “as is´

&ontrary to the conditions of the subleases to *uyanese companies at the airport, the MoU says that arbitration of dispute will be done through the rules of the international &hambers of &ommerce and in 7rinidad and 7obago %ut, the agreement does not spell out who pays for any arbitration that may ensue

7he agreement on arbitra tion ties the hands and feet of the arbitrators by stating up front that “the parties waive any rights to recover punitive, indirect conse Tuential and exemplary damages, and the arbitrators shall be so guided ´

7he need for international arbitration for a dispute between the lessor and sub lessee involving acres is unclear and could be very costly for OAI¶s sharehold ers +owever, this is Tuint essential ExxonMobil lan guage and modus operandi 7he MoU makes no refer ence to Article of the Master /ease which re Tuires that subleases must contain a provision that the “covenants, promises, con ditions and obligations´ in the lease agreement shall bind E66O and its heirs, etc Aviation advocate, Annette ArMoon Martins has dealt with land issues at the air port since In an invit ed comment, ArMoon Mar tins said that she is deeply concerned that OAI, a *uyanese company, would have double standards for local and international com panies

6he views OAI¶s behaviour as practising local content which is severely discrimi natory to other *uyanese companies operating at the airport

(Kaieteur News)