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Amaila Falls Hydro Project…Price tag now at staggering US$835M
Government yesterday announced that the price tag on the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project could near a staggering US$835M, more than US$100M in excess of the cost that the developers Sithe Global had indicated earlier this year.
The figure was announced by President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday during the commissioning of a US$18.4M Wartsila plant at Kingston.
According to Jagdeo, that cost of the 165-megawatts hydro power project includes both construction and the “costs of capital”.
An artist's impression of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project.
Addressing ministers, private sector representatives and senior officials of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), the President underscored the feasibility of the project saying that it would be owned by Guyanese after 20 years.
Earlier this year, Sithe Global during a series of consultation meetings across the country, said that it has committed US$200 million to the project and that it could cost as much as US$700 million to complete it.
The President did not elaborate yesterday on how the project will now reach US$835M.
He lashed out at critics of the project whom he described as “gripers” and noted that they were going after every project of government and then would make an about turn and support it after it is completed.
Stressing that it was not “Fip Motilall” that was building the hydro project, Jagdeo said that Blackstone, the parent company of Sithe Global, is a respected business that has managed to gain financing from China Development Bank.
Motilall, whom government said initially proposed to government to construct the facility, was handed a US$15.4M project to build the access roads leading to the project area. His company, Synergy Holdings, is way behind on the contract and has since been granted an extension to the end of December to complete his works.
According to Jagdeo yesterday, the Chinese contractor, China Railway First Group, won the bid for the construction in an open process.
In July last year, the Guyana Government signed off on a loan deal to build the project and formalize the cooperation between the Guyana Power and Light Company, Sithe Global, China Development Bank and China Railway First Group Company Limited.
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