Amaila Falls hydropower dam – cautions, including problems, abound

Nov 07, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – A reader might be misled by the Government’s current enthusiasm to start construction of this small dam (by global standards) in the remote Kuribrong River; (KN 03 November “Guyana will pay for Amaila through Power Purchase deal with GPL”). The Cabinet appears to have been persuaded by Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo that the Norwegian advisers Norconsult were entirely enthusiastic in the 49-page review report dated 12 December 2016.
Norconsult’s review is actually hedged around with numerous cautions. It seems ill-advised for the Cabinet to press ahead with a scheme to address the baseload electricity demand of the coastland by a hydropower dam that may not have enough water. Norconsult wrote (page 21), “We recommend that the programme for continuous water flow measurement is resumed as soon as possible and before a new main sponsor would be ready to take the front seat 2-3 additional years of continuous flow data would provide a more reliable basis for an updated energy production simulation and thereby reduce the risks …”
Note – BEFORE a new main sponsor, not after.
And that was just one of the cautions by Norconsult. Did the Cabinet conduct a review with some of our famous Guyanese engineers before calling for construction bids?

Yours truly,
Janette Bulkan

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