Govt. has no intention of funding Amaila Falls hydro

Jul 07, 2018 News

While the Government of Guyana is open for the development of the Amaila Falls hydro project, it is not likely to plunge any more money into it. Rather, that would be up to the investors to take the project and run with it.
Already, miles of roads, costing more than US$40M has been constructed.
The government is concentrating on a mix of other energy projects including solar, wind and even a natural gas-fired power plant.
The issue of Amaila Falls and the almost US$1B hydro project that was supposed to be built there raised its head recently after Government disclosed that it will be utilizing US$80M that was being held by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to build large solar farms and fund other alternative energy projects.
Speaking on Thursday during the post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, made it clear that Amaila Falls is not dead, but rather, it is highly unlikely Government would be spending any money.
Recently, Government said that it is open to investors making proposals.
Before being elected to government in 2015, Government members soundly criticized plans for the project which were being pursued by the former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration.
Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, told a Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources on Friday that the project is still on the table.
“The Government of Guyana, while it has voiced its concern and disappointment in the Amaila Falls project, it has never taken it off the table, even now that there are hydrologist studies there to determine whether there is adequate supply of water to generate what is needed to produce electricity,” Trotman stated.
It will be recalled that in August 2013, the preparations for implementation of Amaila Falls Hydropower Project came to a standstill, as the Parliament of Guyana did not vote unanimously in favour of certain features of the project presented by its main sponsor, Sithe Global, a US-based investor in the international energy market.
At that time, the National Assembly was controlled by a one-seat Opposition majority of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC).
Sithe Global withdrew from its position as the main sponsor throwing the project’s future into jeopardy.
The Government of Guyana, represented by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Natural Resources and the Government of Norway, represented by the Minister of Climate and Environment decided at a meeting in Paris in December 2015 to perform “an objective and facts-based” assessment of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
The project was heavily pushed by the last two administrations of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) but ran into trouble early, specifically problems with the access roads to the Amaila Falls dam site in Region Eight. The roads collapsed in many parts and the contractor was fired. Costs ran from US$15M to over US$40M.
The US$900M-plus tagged for the 165 megawatts project was seen as too costly, with criticisms over the technical readiness of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. to take the power.
There were also questions over whether the dam would actually be able to sustain the promised power, with one photo even showing the waterways dry.
Trotman told the committee that the two-year study currently in progress is the first to be undertaken at Amaila Falls. The studies, according to the Minister, are expected to be completed by the end of this year.