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Government still pursuing Amaila Falls Hydro Project – President Ramotar

Oct 26, 2014 News

– project can be operational by 2019

President Donald Ramotar is continuing to push forward in his bid to have the Amaila Falls Hydro Project get underway. He said that there is a possibility that by 2019 the project can become operational.  The Head of State made the statement on Friday while addressing the media at the Office of the President.
The President told reporters that the remaining US$80 million received from Norway could have been invested in the flagship of the Low Carbon Development Strategy— the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.
The Norwegian Government has committed to providing Guyana with up to US$250M by 2015 for avoided deforestation once certain performance indicators are met.
According to the President, had the Amaila Falls Project been on track, it would  have attracted more than US$800 million in further financing from foreign direct investment.  The Head of State said that this plan didn’t materialise since there was a significant setback last year when self-serving political games attempted to destroy the project that was about to benefit all Guyanese by providing them with affordable, reliable, clean energy.
“The attempt to cause the collapse of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project in August 2013 was a disgraceful episode in our nation’s development, when some commentators and politicians refused to let evidence be their guide,” Ramotar told reporters.
He said that the nation saw “untruthful statements” from people who had access to all the relevant information which proved their own statements wrong.
The President vowed that he would not give up in the face of such baseless attacks and that his administration would remain steadfast in pursuing this transformative project.
He said that their partners at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the government of Norway also remained steadfast in their resolve. The President added that he sees some form of progress.
“Over the coming weeks and months, we will share with you the details of our new way forward. We can never make back the time that we have lost, but the Amaila Falls Hydro Project can still be operational by 2019,” the president said.
The President said that as government continues to press for the 165MW Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Plant, all of the previous partners in the project remain engaged, including Sithe Global which had announced a pull out last year.
Last August, when Sithe Global announced that it had pulled out of the project, its President, Brian Kubeck, maintained that “a public-private partnership of this magnitude requires a national consensus in order for us to proceed further.”
Kubeck was referring to the fact that the political opposition was divided on the pieces of legislation it had to consider in relation to the venture.
Government’s point man on the project, Winston Brassington, last January, met with the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources and had disclosed that Government had started looking at a number of options after Sithe Global’s pullout, recognizing that the parties involved had spent considerable time and monies in developing it.
The contractor, China Railway First Group, remains “keenly committed” to the project. So does China Development Bank, Brassington had stated.
Brassington made it clear that China is willing to step in and “fill the gap” with regards to financing.
Under the financing structure, in the original arrangement, Sithe Global would have been putting in US$152M; IDB US$175M, Guyana US$100M and CDB US$413M.
China Railway had already signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) agreement with Sithe for US$506M.
Some 70 per cent of the total funding would have been coming from the CDB and the IDB. Brassington at the time stressed that talks are still ongoing with the partners with any negotiations still at a preliminary stage.

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