Amid questions over cost, feasibility and the projected demand for power, the PPP/C government on Tuesday morning brushed aside an APNU+AFC motion for a pause in the planned gas to energy project with Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat arguing that the scheme will end blackouts and cut the electricity cost by half.
Having not commissioned a feasibility study since it entered office in August 2020 for the massive project estimated to cost between US$900m to U$$1.5b, the PPP/C government has come under pressure from the opposition and civil society to allow a closer examination of the bases of the scheme and to justify the planned expenditure in light of climate change obligations.
The PPP/C government is however ploughing ahead with the project at Wales, West Bank Demerara despite the reservations around it and Bharrat told Parliament that the motion in the name of former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson was intended to stymie the work of the government