Dear Editor,

In 1976 at a proceeding of the International Seminar on Hydropower and the Environment held at the University of Guyana, the late Forbes Burnham, then Prime Minister of Guyana in his delivery of the feature address to that august group, stated that he was perturbed to hear that the first phase of hydropower generation of electricity in Guyana would be completed only in 1982. He was sure however that the skill, persistence and dedication of Guyanese involved would probably shorten that period by at least twelve months. Unfortunately, the project never got off the ground during his tenure.

In Year 2005 at the opening of GuyExpo held at the National Exhibition Centre, President Bharrat Jagdeo stated that within five years hydropower would flow from one of five sites under consideration and that discussions were ongoing with a number of potential investors. In Year 2010 negotiations are still in progress and there are hopes that he will ink a deal before he leaves office in 2011 and not allow the forest to reclaim the access roads now under construction.

In a letter which appeared in Sunday Stabroek of May 23, the Project Manager for the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) and Sithe Global one of its apparent financiers, stated that the goal was to “start construction in early 2011, once the access road is completed and debt financing has been obtained.” However, as reported in the same edition of SN the road is unlikely to be completed in eight months and great uncertainty surrounds project funding and its assured sources (very hazy so far) since the project financial viability with respect to its construction costs, interest rate on borrowed funds, repayment period and the energy cost per kwh, are still to be determined, information which the Project Manager stated would be shared as the project progressed.

Before construction could start on this project much work remains to be done and the Project Manager appears oblivious to this. Design of the civil, mechanical and electrical works have to be completed with the preparation of specifications and tender documents thereto. To assist in design completion, critical data still have to be collected and analyzed – EIA updating (now being undertaken), detailed geotechnical investigations for soundness of the dam, power house and reservoir sites, refinement of the estimation of water inflow patterns for the storage reservoir, etc.

After these documents are prepared, bids have to be invited, analyzed and an award made for construction. The successful bidder has to be given time for mobilization. Assuming that the multilateral financing institutions would be willing to provide financing for this project (no official announcement of their interest has been given so far) it will take them at least 18 months to process a loan application (from loan request letter to first disbursement). Hence any construction is unlikely to start before the latter part of 2012 if indeed it does.

Many believed the late President Burnham had expected that at the end of his many trials and errors he would have succeeded in building a hydropower complex in the Upper Mazaruni River to supply vast amounts of power at reasonably low prices, so as to be able to make a contribution to raising the standard of living and the quality of life of the Guyanese people. However, as he reflected in his closing remarks on the nation’s largest undertaking in 1976 to that international      seminar on hydropower, he stated that he wanted to be honest with his audience and said, “the quality of honesty is being seldom attributed to politicians.” Therefore, in retrospect there is scepticism as to the intent and purpose of the government as it leads us up the garden path with respect to the AFHP.

Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan