Senior Vice President for Development of Sithe Global James McGowan said the company is “making good progress” on current negotiations and discussions with regard to attaining financial closure for the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project and will update the Guyanese public formally next month.
“Since our last update on June 17th, we continue to make good progress on discussions with the lenders and contractor,” McGowan said in an email to Stabroek News yesterday. “We intend to provide the public a full status update in September,” he added.
Some days ago, Stabroek News asked Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh for an update on the project, he said that it was coming along well. But he said he could not give any more details. The latest cost estimation for the project is US$840 million and the developers are hoping that the IDB would be able to commit about US$200 million.
Repeated attempts to speak to officials of the IDB, including Representative Sophie Makonnen, proved futile. The IDB is to provide the last piece of critical financial for the project to make it a reality. However, there is now no trace of the project listed on the Guyana page of the IDB, leading to speculation about that institution’s support for the venture.
