The Norwegian firm selected to review the financial model of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) has until September 1 to submit its report, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman says.
“After this the two countries will meet to review the findings and agree the way forward,” Trotman told Stabroek News recently. The two countries have identified Norconsult to conduct the review and the firm has started its work, the minister said.
The results of the review would determine whether the controversial project will go ahead.
Guyana and Norway had agreed in Paris, France, in December 2015 to conduct a review of the project’s current financial model, which the government believes could shackle many generations of Guyanese to debt.
Both sides are awaiting the study on the contentious AFHP to make a definitive decision on how to proceed. The AFHP was the flagship project of the five-year forests protection partnership between Guyana and Norway in which Guyana could earn up to US$250 million in performance-based payments based on an independent verification of Guyana’s deforestation and forest degradation rates and progress on REDD+ enabling activities. REDD+ is a global initiative that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
The partnership has been extended so that Guyana can fulfill some of the remaining deliverables.
Norway had transferred US$80 million to the Inter-American Development Bank for the project but the David Granger administration has said that as currently configured, “it would not only be irresponsible, but a downright criminal act of deception,” if government proceeded with Amaila.
Norway had previously urged the APNU+AFC administration to consider the merits of the AFHP and indicated that Guyana stands to lose the US$80 million earmarked for the project if it fails to come up with a plan for “transformational” renewable energy sources that can be realised in the next few years. It had strongly supported the project under the previous PPP/C administration.
Subsequently, both sides agreed to a final, independent review of the project.
