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Amaila Falls project may suffer

Oct 26, 2008 News

– IDB representative

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) representative Marco Nicola has said that the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project (AFHEP) may suffer as a result of the global financial meltdown.
Guyana may lose Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), he said.
“President Bharrat Jagdeo has also recognised that some strategic infrastructure investment that the Government is looking forward to undertake with the private sector, including Amaila Falls, may suffer because Guyana will never have the liquidity to fund that project,” Nicola stated.
He added that if there is an issue of access in credit, those projects may suffer.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, at a recent press briefing, said that the financial meltdown in the developed world would have implications for projects in Guyana, such as hydropower.
But he had also said, in his first press briefing this year, that Guyana will build the Amaila Falls Hydropower plant, “one way or another”.
The project, according to the company that has undertaken its construction (Synenergy Holdings Inc), is based on an initial study that was carried out between 1974 and 1976 to explore the hydroelectric potential under a grant from the United Nations.
That study was done by Montreal Engineering over the two-year period.
A number of sites were identified but, through a shortlist process, these were eventually trimmed to three “most promising” sites.
Further studies by the developer between 1997 and 2001 related to the demand for power, the economic, environmental, ecological and political impacts of developing each of these sites, and led to Amaila as the location of choice.
In 1998, Synergy Holdings Inc. joined with Harza Engineering Company (now called MW Harza Global) to fund and perform a detailed feasibility study and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the first Phase of the project.
Between 1999 and 2001, a full feasibility study and EIA carried out on site included surveying, drilling in excess of 400 metres, and several site visits by Harza engineers to evaluate the drill cores and the physical characteristics of the site, and to install river gauging equipment downstream of the falls.
Drilling equipment was flown in by helicopter, supplies came in by river and the ATV access road.
Following the on-site investigations and mapping, several alternate designs were looked at, and the developers chose a final design that offered the lowest construction cost while maintaining the expandability of the project.
The Amaila site is located on the Kuribrong River, a tributary of the Potaro, and the nearest point of access is the airstrip at Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro River, approximately 15 miles to the south.
An overland trail exists from Kaieteur to Amaila, while access is also provided overland by an all-weather road through Tumatumari on the Potaro River and on to Mahdia and Kangaruma.
River access along the Potaro-Kuribrong Rivers to the foot of Amaila Falls involves several portages around rapids and waterfalls.
The construction process should have commenced in September, when the tender process should have closed, but was subsequently extended by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has publicly committed to building the hydropower station – estimated to cost approximately US$450M – before he demits office.

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