Another project another potential defect

Oct 11, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – Will there ever be that day when the PPPC Government steers away from companies with question marks against their names to build expensive projects in this country? Will there ever come that day when citizens can say that the PPPC Government selected a company that inspires confidence to build a big project? That opportunity is here, and soon it will be known which way the government went. Another development riddled with a troubling history, or one where citizens can feel that they will get value for their millions? A project done expertly, on time, and without any cost overruns?

The selection of the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project winning bidder should happen soon. Indian and Chinese firms are the low bidders. A US-linked company OEC USA, in partnership with US energy heavyweight GE Verona and Australia’s Worley Limited, has submitted the highest bid, and it has backing against which it is hard to compete. The US Export-Import Bank is ready to provide financing. It appears that an open-ended prefinancing package already has been finalised for OEC USA and partners for the Amaila Falls hydro project. The competition in the running may already be out of the race, barring the official award.

The US has been very clear on its expectations relative to US companies and their prospects for more business in oil rich, cash flush Guyana. We at this paper would be surprised if the Amaila Falls winning bidder is from India or China. The US would neither be amused nor impressed with such an outcome, when those from its own stable of engineering companies are the losers. As a refresher, the first time around the Amaila Falls hydro project was mired in dispute, never got off the ground, despite millions spent or squandered. Is it heading in that same general direction? Except that this time, it is not PPPC Government cronies grabbing some easy millions, but a US-led consortium.

This is worth a look. OEC USA is the offspring of a major Brazilian engineering conglomerate, Odebrecht. Odebrecht featured prominently in one of the biggest recent international corruption investigations. It had paid US$788M in bribes to officials in different countries and reaped in excess of US$3B in illicit profits. Its scheme collapsed, and an agreement for US$3.6B in penalties had to be worked out with US and other countries. Part of Odebrecht’s extensive corporate restructuring resulted in OEC USA coming into being and operating under that name in several countries.

In view of its origins and the history of its parent, and there is nothing negligible about it, OEC USA may not be the best presence around the Amaila Falls project. In a country with a government as corruption prone as Guyana’s, it could be the equivalent of walking into a potentially dangerous trap with eyes wide open. Local taxpayers paid a price with Amaila Falls I. The same has happened with the US$2B Wales gas-to-energy project, and Guyana’s US-based partner, Lindsayca Guyana. What the Guyana Government and the citizens of this country are faced with distils to one question. Does Guyana have the strength, the capacity, to pay more US millions (a third time), should there be slippage, and the progress anticipated does not go according to plan with Amaila Falls II?

There is an old standard: a fool and his money are soon parted. What goes for an individual, also applies to governments and countries. We think that there is too much risk of Guyana getting burned again. This country has been through these situations too often, for no lesson to have been learned. It would be in the best interests of this country, if the Guyana Government uses its right to extend an invitation for new expressions of interest, with the objective of a company with no baggage being the winner. US companies are not excluded from bidding and favourable consideration. They just have to come to the table without any suspicious marks.

Meanwhile, the PPPC Government has the US twisting its elbows. The US is very clear on how it expects US companies to be treated in Guyana. They must have the edge; they must gain the nod. In the instance of OEC USA, red lights flash.

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defect, Editorial, PPPC Government, US Export-Import Bank

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