AFC ‘quite concerned’ about Amaila price tag revelations

Aug 30, 2013 News

By Abena Rockcliffe
Commenting on recent revelations about the documented price tag attached to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, Alliance For Change (AFC), leader Khemraj Ramjattan said that his party is quite concerned. He declared, however, that it is his belief that the AFC had to allow the project to “go there” so that more can come to light.
The politician made the inference that hadn’t the AFC given the Amaila Falls Hydro Project the “lease of life,” lots of details would have gone unheard of.

AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan

Yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News indicated that the price for the Amaila Falls Hydro Project is continuing to rise, with previously guarded facts supporting this assertion.
At a stakeholders’ forum held in late July, Sithe Global President Brian Kubeck had confirmed that the price tag for the project had increased to US$858M, some US$18M more than the figure quoted just a week prior by a number of government officials, including President Donald Ramotar. That price jump was not the first.
But now it is being revealed that the project costs at least US951M – according to confidential project document that was leaked to this newspaper. Kaieteur News noted that the publicized amount of US100M that the government claimed it is pumping into the project is by no means accurate.
It was revealed that a US$57.2M difference between the disclosed price and the real price, is to be paid by the government of Guyana; mounting Guyana’s stake to US$157.2M
The remainder of the money for the project was said to be coming from Sithe Global, who would have been investing US$157.4M, China Exim Bank US$500.7M and the IDB, which was applied to for the remaining US$100M.
Yesterday, when his attention was guided to the increased price tag, Ramjattan exclaimed “Oh look at that…That’s why the AFC wanted expert second opinion from persons who would have gotten those information!”
He said that the AFC views the frequent price changes as imperfections of the project, but claimed “we had to give it (the project) the lease of life for it to go there…Now we may know that it might not be US$850M, but US$1B.”
Ramjattan admitted to the limitations of his party when it comes to understanding the documentation and formulas linked to the Amaila Project.
The party leader said that he cannot understand the formula that is suggested for the use of calculating the estimated tariff rate to be paid by consumers if Amaila comes on stream.
“I don’t understand the thing, so I am not being irresponsible, nor is the party being irresponsible, when we say let’s see what the Inter-American Development Bank comes up with in its due diligence… and they promised several aspects.”