The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has endorsed the sentiments expressed by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and called on all parliamentary stakeholders to support the passage of a motion on the Guarantee of Loans (Public Corporations and Companies) Act and the Hydro-Electric Power (Amendment) Bill 2013.
A release from the GCCI yesterday stated that this was consistent with their position as stated in their ‘Competiti-veness Manifesto’ that they fully endorse efforts that support innovation and investment in the infrastructure required to develop and deploy renewable energy sources, which ultimately could mitigate the costs of electricity and other conventional energy sources. Thus, Guyana should enlarge its efforts to develop hydropower.
GCCI also welcomed the fact that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was one of the proposed financial partners and was involved in the economic evaluation of the project and that its support for financing of US$175M was contingent on adequate due diligence, feasibility and other safeguards of the entire project proposal.
The Chamber said that the IDB had a long history of assessing such projects and had the technical capacity to verify and inform the prospects and credibility of projects it pursues.
The GCCI added, “If project financing does not materialize, let it be as a result of the failure of the project to meet financial and economic viability benchmarks of IDB’s assessment and not as a result of the failure of our political leaders to pass requisite legislation that compliments the project and informs the IDB’s decision making come July 30.”
