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Govt. still reviewing previous bids for Amaila Falls project – PM
Kaieteur News- The government is still reviewing proposals from the last tender for the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips told reporters on Monday.
The Prime Minister’s statement came five days after Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the government will retender for the project.
Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips
Prime Minister Phillips, at his end-of-year press conference held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre said, “We have Amaila Falls (project) – we already had a request for proposals for the Amaila Falls. The evaluations of those submissions are being done and we envisage Amaila Falls after the evaluation, the whole development of the project including the construction of the falls and everything will occur during the next five-year development period, 2025 to 2030.”
On the subject of the project, reporters asked the Prime Minister whether the government had done studies in respect to rainfall and drought to ensure that the hydropower and solar projects will continue to be sustainable when they start up.
In response, he explained that there are many studies that are being re-done while noting that the Guyana Energy Agency is a repository of the studies.
“Those studies are widely available and based on the information we are making informed decisions as it pertains to where we will locate hydro projects or solar farms. So, there is a lot of studies that is available out there and I can tell you that with regards to the Amaila Falls, all the studies were there pointing to it being a good site in terms of the feasibility studies that were done for a hydro project and that is why we are sticking with Amaila Falls,” the Prime Minister further relayed.
Meanwhile, last week, Vice President Jagdeo, when asked for an update on the project said, “So we will have to retender the project, right now the last bids we got came in a long time. We didn’t focus on it but we will have to retender that project.”
It was reported last year that the government would revive the Amaila Falls project after talks fell through with the contractor, a year earlier. The government later issued a Revised Request for Proposals (RFP) under a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model for the Amaila Falls project.
Four local and international firms submitted proposals to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) office in December 2023 for the 165-megawatt (MW) Amaila Falls project that was scheduled to begin in 2027. However, the project is currently stalled.
NPTAB received proposals from Rialma of Brazil; China International Water and Electric Corporation of Beijing, China; CH4 Guyana Inc. of Guyana; and OECGE WORLAY, a joint venture of companies from Guyana, Brazil, and the United States of America.
In September, Vice President Jagdeo said, “…So, we’ll probably have to either engage the best of those [the four contractors that were prequalified], or ultimately probably go out back to another process…”
The Amaila Falls Hydropower project was introduced by a previous People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration in 2011. However, the project was shelved on many occasions.
The project faced obstacles in its realization when the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) parties stopped it back in 2014. In its 2020 election manifesto, the PPP/C administration noted that the project would be revived.
(Govt. still reviewing previous bids for Amaila Falls project – PM)
- Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, Guyana Energy Agency, hydro projects, solar farms, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
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