Even as the government awaits the US$650 million sought from the United States Export-Import (EXIM) Bank for the Gas to Energy (GtE) project and has to date state-financed about $400 million in lieu of that approval, it is prepared to fund the additional if not approved, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said.
“We have, on this project which is slated to complete next year [and had a price tag of] US$761 million for the LGN facility and also the power plant… From our own resources so far, because of the delay in the loan… [we] have paid about US$400 million, more than half of the project…,” Jagdeo told a press conference as he updated on the project.
“The aim was to borrow about $650 million from EXIM Bank. We had $100 million in the first year as the advance payment… That’s even better for us. The loan from EXIM Bank, we can get reimbursed for it because of the way it is structured. Just to tell you that we will get this done, even if it means carrying it from our own budget,” he added.