The Public Infrastructure Ministry is in the process of reviewing three private hydropower proposals as government awaits the economic feasibility study on the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) done by the IDB and contemplates a variety of outstanding issues.
Minister David Patterson told Stabroek News on Sunday that right now he did not wish to disclose any information of the projects being reviewed stating that they were all seriously being looked into for feasibility.
He did not even wish to disclose the proposed sites that were being looked at by the private proposals but did state that they were all a far cry from the US$858 million AFHP.
“None of them are at the same scale as the Amaila Falls, but we are in the process of reviewing all of them,” he told this newspaper.
Patterson had previously told Stabroek News that while government contemplates the future of the AFHP, proposals for cost recovery from the US$42 million Amaila Falls Access Road will be need to be assessed.
He had revealed that under the existing contracts there was still 18 km left of roadway to be completed as well as remedial work. “What is in the contract contractors will have to finish…we want them to finish because most of the money has been expended. We may as well get the road complete,” he stated.
He had said that logging and mining in the areas along the road were both very lucrative stating that a toll could be set up for use of the roadway.
Patterson also noted that the various communities that would benefit from the road will also be assessed if or when a toll is established.
“…Use the monies recouped from that to maintain the road,” Patterson stated, noting that the government was not looking to spend millions in upkeep of a road that has no direct benefit should the AFHP be shelved indefinitely.
Guyana was given a July deadline by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to indicate whether it intends to continue with the AFHP with the decision hinging on an economic feasibility study done by the Bank.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon had stated earlier this month that apart from the economic feasibility study done by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) there are other issues that have to be addressed.
“…Government was advised that there are some other peripheral matters which the previous government had entered into with certain companies which need to be addressed,” the minister said.
“There are some other issues… connected to the project that have nothing to do with the economic viability report,” he continued.
He did not reveal what any of the outstanding issues were and although he had made it clear at an earlier post-Cabinet press briefing that the study was supposed to be presented by the Bank it has not been as yet.
The IDB is holding US$80 million from Norway in its accounts as Guyana’s equity in the project and Guyana was also seeking a loan from the bank for the AFHP.
President David Granger in an interview with this newspaper had stated that his administration was unlikely to proceed with the project. Since the project was first announced, costs of the 165-megawatt hydro venture have escalated from the original US$450 million to US$858.2 million.
