The Alliance For Change (AFC) this afternoon voted with the ruling PPP/C in Parliament to return two matters related to the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project for further debate. The main opposition APNU voted against.
AFC’s yes voted had been expected as in recent days the party had said that it now supports the bill related to the reserve area for the Amaila Falls project and that it would support the loans guarantee motion if the ceiling is lowered from $150b to between $40 and $50b and the applicability of this guarantee is tapered to the hydropower project. APNU had maintained that it was still opposed to the two measures as numerous questions remain unsettled.
It therefore seems that APNU will maintain a no vote when full debate on the two measures begins today. It is unclear how the APNU vote will sit with the proposed developer of the project, Sithe Global which says that all three parties have to support the project for it to continue its investment here.
While the AFC voted with the PPP/C to permit a debate on the two Amaila measures, the joint opposition are now insisting that four local local government bills which have been in abeyance for sometime be addressed first before the Amaila measures are debated. The government side is now meeting to consider the opposition request and Parliament has adjourned. The government has problems with two of the bills.
When the two Amaila matters were first debated, both the AFC and APNU had voted against them. As a result the measures are technically not permitted to be revisited in this session of Parliament but several standing orders were suspended to allow their re-appearance on Parliament’s order paper.
