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Wales gas-to-energy project

Jan 10, 2025 Editorial, News

Editorial…

Kaieteur News- Guyanese have a choice: continue trying to get any clarity on the Wales gas-to-energy (GTE) project out of the PPP/C Government, or run-up the white flag and surrender to the games being played by its senior officials.

Because of the history of this publication, and the vital importance of the oil and gas sector to Guyana, surrender is not, never is, an option.  Still, there can only be presenting our heavy disappointment at what is being shared with the public on the most expensive project to date in this country’s history.  Putting a kind expression on it, what the PPP/C Government has shared so far represents nothing but a slew of flimsy and amateurish excuses.

To be truly critical, the nation has been treated to nothing but a litany of deceptions and a string of distractions.  Whenever the government and its top spokespeople do offer something on the GTE project (under prompting almost all the time), a bigger void is left. There are more questions developing, adding to the list of those hanging unanswered.

The first mystery about the Wales GTE project is how much this massive three-in-one scheme is going to cost Guyanese.  The second mystery concerns the basis for rushing ahead with the project.  It is helpful to hear that this Wales GTE will be a boon to energy-starved Guyanese, but that doesn’t say much; this is far from acceptable.

Guyanese have been told repeatedly that electricity will be cheaper, reduced by as much as half of what a kilowatt of energy currently costs.  Further, the nation has been reassured time and again that once all three aspects of the GTE are completed, there will be a reliable supply of electricity, and blackouts will no longer be a part of Guyanese life.  All of this is encouraging, but represents the soothing assurances of politicians who have failed this country countless times.  What is required is the documents for the project to be laid in Parliament for a start, and then before the media, so that Guyanese can see, know, and judge for themselves what they are getting.

Is this Wales GTE really going to cost US$2B, or is that a ‘ballpark’ figure, an optimistic one?  If it is more, then by how much, and at what point does this project stop being feasible, isn’t worth the expenditure of time and energy?  It was the Opposition PNC/R that recently raised a reasonable question. If the final cost of the GTE project is still unknown at this advanced state of plans and arrangements, then on what grounds could it be still said to be feasible?  Relative to the GTE’s feasibility, documents had to be submitted to the US EXIM bank to facilitate processing of the US$527M loan recently approved.  What about the documents that have been promised by the government to be laid in Parliament?  Some of the EXIM bank documents could be part of the package to Parliament.  So, why is this not happening, despite repeated commitments by senior people in the PPP/C Government?

The record to date is that at different times, different people in the government have promised to present documents related to the Wales GTE, but have not delivered.  Worse still, it is an exercise in disbelief to watch men of stature in the government hop from one foot to the other in their efforts either to shift the responsibility to a colleague, or to buy time.  As they paw at the air in the hope of coming up with a convincing reason regarding why the documents are not being delivered, common sense indicates that something is amiss.  Whatever it is, both Prime Minister Mark Phillips and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo present a most curious picture viz., of nervous men with some secret to hide.  It is shocking that the two government leaders whose fingerprints are most closely associated with the Wales GTE are now forced to resort to dodging, shifting, and going around in circles.  Could it be that the documents in their possession contradict what they have been saying in public?  The masquerade has gone on too long.  PM Phillips and VP Jagdeo have been running.   They are running out of time and places to hide.

(Wales gas-to-energy project)

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