There is confusion about the Amaila Falls Hydro project

Dec 20, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Emile Mervin’s letter in Kaieteur News (December 19th) raises one serious issue that demands clarification by the Jagdeo Govt. If the Amaila Falls Hydro project is slated to be built by investors at no cost to the government, why does the government have to earmark portions of Norway’s “development assistance” money (US$250 million in five ears) for the this project?
Emile writes: “And why is the government looking to spend US$40M-US$55M of the Norway money to buy equity in the Amaila Falls Hydro project when this is supposed to be a private BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) undertaking?”
There is confusion about this hydro project. In August I met Fip Makeswar Lall, who was awarded the $15.4 million contract to build the road to the Falls. Fip insisted that the AFHP would cost the government “not a cent”.
Fip not only represented himself as an investor in the project – but more importantly that he (Fip) would be building the hydro project.
Fip’s website and a public document called an MOU and signed by PM Sam Hinds (he does not recall signing any such document) represented Fip’s company, Synergy Holdings as the company building the hydro project.
Recent news articles state Fip’s company is only involved in building the road, not the Hydro plant. The Jagdeo government in the interest of good governance and accountability should clear up these matters.
Does Fip’s company Synergy Holdings have anything to do with the actual construction of the hydro plant? And, is this plant really being built by investors under the BOOT plan that would cost the taxpayers “not a cent”?
As a Guyanese citizen, I have another great concern about Norway’s “development assistance” to Guyana. Guyana’s system of electing its government is a very “flawed democracy”. The system in place would always produce the same result, namely, a government mainly supported by the majority ethnic group. Shouldn’t the government of Norway adopt a more enlightened approach – and use the leverage that comes with its US$250 million “development assistance” to nudge the PPP to transform itself into becoming a genuine multiracial party?
Shouldn’t the government of Norway use its leverage to nudge the PPP government to end corruption? What is the justification for contracting out importation of drugs to a private monopoly company owned by a “personal friend” of President Jagdeo. Could such a monopoly negotiate cheaper prices for drugs than if the Minister of Health were assigned the task? Is this not a clear case of steering millions of dollars of windfall profits to a “friend” of the government? How is this drug importation monopoly created by President Jagdeo different from the “crony capitalism” of Marcos’s Phillippines or Suharto’s Indonesia?
Shouldn’t the millions of dollars of “developmental assistance” to be provided by Norway not be placed in the Consolidated Fund, which is under the control and supervision of the parliament?
Norway is not constrained by any international law or treaty – no such law has been approved at the conference on Global Warming – to give millions of dollars of “developmental assistance” to Guyana. Norway is indeed obtaining something in
return – it is earning carbon credits, and Guyana is sacrificing the immediate benefits of harvesting its forest trees – but at the end of the day, Norway is under no compulsion to enter this agreement. Norway’s funds are indeed “developmental assistance”.
Mike Persaud

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