Saying that the pros of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project far outweighed the cons, PPP Central Committee member Irfaan Ali yesterday urged the opposition to reconsider its vote against enabling legislation it voted against in the House last week.
Ali told a PPP news conference yesterday that residential customers can save as much as 20% on their power bills when the project is completed, saving approximately $208.7 million monthly or $2.5 billion annually. “For example, a family paying a $5,000 per month for electricity would see a minimum of $1,000 reduction in their electricity bill per month as a result of the hydro project,” he said, while reiterating his party’s chastisement of APNU and the AFC stance on the bill and motion brought by the government for the project.
The opposition last Thursday voted against the Hydro-Electric Power (Amendment) Bill aimed at making the hydropower project compliant in terms of sustainable development and the environmental policies of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which is one of the prospective financiers of the project. APNU and the AFC also blocked the passage of the motion for the increase of the limit for loan guarantees—a requirement to allow the Guyana Power and Light to have a Power Purchase Agreement with the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
Ali was adamant that the pros of the project far outweighed any cons as he outlined a series of potential benefits, including that Guyana will be able to reduce fuel import, saving as much as 25% or US$90 million annually.
With the project, he said there would be reduction of the current cost of generating electricity by 20% to 40%; the generation of electricity using 100% renewable sources, which has the potential of earning approximately US$10 million annually from the sale of carbon credits; and energy security, which he said is important for national development. “Affordable and reliable energy is also important to accelerate our national efforts at structural transformation by making manufacturing and agro-processing activities feasible and enhancement of Guyana’s competitiveness through substantially reduced cost of production and improved reliability of electricity supply,” he asserted. However, he did not state who undertook the research and compiled the statistics.
Ali appealed to the opposition to change its stance, saying that he has learnt through the media that opposition leader David Granger said that the bill can still be brought again. To this end, he urged that Granger be the one to bring the bill once again during this Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly.
PPP/C MP Robeson Benn, who was also present, noted that the party was still in shock at the opposition’s move as it had assumed that the bill would be passed. Questioned if the opposition had given a commitment or agreement or assurances either verbally or otherwise, Benn would only say “there was a general understanding” and added that he could not fathom the project being shot down. He said that he was prepared to beg the members of the opposition to change their minds as he felt that once the good of his country was involved there was no task too hard to comply with.
