Gov’t courts APNU on Amaila Falls

Jun 13, 2013 News

The government on Tuesday evening courted the country’s main opposition coalition APNU on the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.
APNU has been clamouring for full disclosure on the project, but the government had argued that confidentiality issues prevent it from divulging information to the public.
As such, at Tuesday’s closed-door meeting, APNU was given those confidential documents and that party committed to studying them, Joseph Harmon told Kaieteur News. Harmon was in the meeting with Opposition Leader David Granger and President Donald Ramotar and his team.
Apart from Harmon, Granger took along other senior executives of APNU, including Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, Carl Greenidge and Lance Carberry.
Those included on the President’s team were Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon, Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, Chairman of the Board of Guyana Power and Light, Winston Brassington and Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira.
In a previous meeting with the Alliance for Change (AFC), the President had expressed concern over the budget cut for the project. Funding for the Amaila Falls project was included in the $19 billion slashed from the budget for the Low Carbon Development Strategy.
The party had assured the President that the AFC will support the project once it is approved by the due diligence study by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The President expressed concern that lack of approval might send the wrong signal to the IDB, but the AFC did not agree.
APNU fell short of giving any commitments to the project, except that it would study the documents handed over by the government.
The government is eager to press ahead with the US$840m project at Amaila Falls, deep in Guyana’s jungle. The road to the site is currently being built.
In this year’s budget, the opposition agreed to allow the government to spend $2.3 billion to complete the road.
The new projected date for the completion of the road is the end of the year, but the Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn could not say what the final cost of the road would be.
Last year, $2.3 billion was used, but with that funding and what was approved for this year, there is no clear indication that that would be the final cost.
The original contract was for US$15.4 million, which was awarded to Makeshwar Fip Motilall by former President Bharrat Jagdeo. According to Fip’s contract, the road should have been completed in December 2011.
Since Motilall was terminated in early 2012, several other contractors were hired to complete the road. Two of them have since been fired, namely Bovell and Pasha. Pasha’s contract, which was for the final stretch of the 185 kilometers road, has now been handed to China Rail, the company that would build the power plant.
The completion of the road is seen as being necessary for the building of the plant.
The lead developer of the project is Sithe Global, part of the Blackstone Group.
Sithe is looking for a 19 per cent return on its equity contribution.
The China Development Bank is expected to loan Guyana most of the money. The Inter-American Development Bank is being asked to contribute $175M.
The World Bank, which was first involved in the project has since dropped out.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is expected to buy the electricity at US$100 million a year and there are fears that electricity bills would not come down as the government has been boasting.
The IMF had earlier urged that “careful consideration” be paid to the financial risks of the project.