Monkey wrench in Amaila Falls Hydro Project might be blessing in disguise

Jun 01, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that the China Railway Group Limited(CRGL) which was selected for the contract is unable to finance the construction of the roughly US$1 billion Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP). CRGL has written to the government requesting that it considers a different model of financing and this may now require re-tendering for the controversy-ridden project. Our investigative journalists need to go to work. Why is this company backing down? Why did the other Chinese company back down from the Demerara Bridge project and the runners up had to take over the contract?

The VP of all things told a recent press conference that CRGL had advised that they are “having a hard time doing the BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) Contract and they want to shift to an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) plus financing, where the government finances the project and they will be the contractors.”

My church folks would say that is God sending us a message, or the devil is trying to defeat us. But in Guyana, one man alone decides what is good for the whole country in all things. He is some people’s little “god.” I usually say, “none of us is as smart as all of us,” and “none of us is as strong as all of us,” but in Guyana we have one such “super man” who thinks only what he thinks is real, and everybody else is less. At the Press Conference, Tom Sanzillo, a real Director of Financial Analysis for Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), was criticised. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was criticised for giving advice to Guyana. Never mind that’s the group we run to for bailout when we get into financial troubles.Anyone who gives advice for improvement is criticised by this thin-skinned Government.

The Amaila Project had a false start and was scandal ridden. How did the procurement process produced a result where a man who never built anything got the contract for building an access road for Amaila? The PNC Coalition killed Amaila and as soon as the PPP got in their “god” resurrected this high-priced project.

We now have the opportunity to rethink our energy mix. Mr. Bhulai, a Guyanese nationalist, has made a good case for solar energy as our best, cheaper alternative. We must give serious consideration to solar energy. Also, the Government never responded to the question of how teeny tiny Barbados would be able to produce 178MW of power that will cost $100 million, and Guyana is spending almost a billion for the same amount of power (KN, “US$100M to produce 178MW from solar, hydrogen in Barbados,” Feb 23, 2022).

The KN article stated, “The Government of Barbados will in the near future be realising some 178 megawatts of electricity using hydrogen and solar energy at a cost of some US$100M while in Ethiopia, that country will soon realise 6,500 MW of hydro power electricity at a cost of just over US$600,000 per MW. In Guyana however, the Irfaan Ali Government is pursuing a hydro electrical project at Amaila Falls for a revised cost of US$700M which would work out to some US$4.2M per MW for a 165MW plant to be built by China Railway First Group.” Can the Government respond to this?

This Government delights to do high-cost projects. If the Government would use all the available leverage points to review and renegotiate the oil contracts, they would have been able to obtain enough money to finance all their energy projects instead of begging companies to do BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer). Pray for smarter leaders to emerge in Guyana. It’s our wealth and our country, and we need leaders who care and will fight for the national interest, not the rights of oil imperialists.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry Jailall