Former Guyana President Blasts Critics Of Hydro Project

GEORGETOWN, Guyana CMC – Former president Bharrat Jagdeo has criticized critics of the multi-billion dollar Amaila Falls Hydro Power (AFHP) project saying the country may well lose out on a plan to improve energy supply here because of “partisanship and ignorance”.

Addressing the closing of the National Economic Forum here on Thursday, Jagdeo said that some of those who opposed to the project had employed what he described as “charlatan economics” while citing figures that were completely off the mark.

They killed the hydro because of that,” he said, adding “there is not a single cent of debt, outside of the money that we are spending on the road and the equity, that we are taking that will accrue to this country and yet we heard that is too high a debt that we are worried about that’s why we didn’t approve the project,” he said.
Jagdeo said that apart from the estimated US$20 million that government has spent on building the road to the site of the power plant and equity in the AFHP, the project would not have cost the country any additional debt burden.
He said funds for projects such as those of the magnitude of AFHP were not easily available, and as such, it was a lost opportunity for Guyana.

He said Guyana’s economy was linked externally to a world that was changing rapidly, and this should always be taken into consideration, stressing also that cheap energy is essential for future industrial growth.

Jagdeo said that the loss of the Amaila project would be the biggest defeat for competitiveness and advised that as a nation, “We can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot”.

The US-based Sithe Global/Blackstone has pulled out of the project and refused to invest US$150 million because of a lack of political consensus.

While the Donald Ramotar government has received support from the Alliance For Change (AFC), it has not gotten the green light from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the opposition grouping that also includes the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).

The APNU contends that the project would be a financial burden on Guyana.

Last month, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh said that the passage of Hydro-Electric Power (Amendment) Bill as well as the accompanying motion to increase the guarantee limit of loans, from GUY$1 billion to $150 billion (One Guyana dollar = US$0.01 cents) was necessary to ensure the continued development of the country.

But last week, while the National Assembly approved the legislation, the government’s motion to increase the debt ceiling on external loans to GUY$130 billion was amended by the AFC to GUY$50 billion.

Government said the recent pull out by Sithe Global has placed the AFHP in jeopardy and Jagdeo questioned the wisdom of opposition politicians whom he reminded of the US$300 million spent in the late 1970s and early 80s by the PNCR government to start the initial hydro power plant in the Mazaruni area.

He said the money, which if adjusted for inflation amounts to over two billion US dollars and is still being repaid.

He said that while healthy political debates and arguments were necessary for any democracy, the interests of the country must always come first, and reminded stakeholders that, “We can’t lose sight of the big picture”.

Government insists that the total public debt for the Amaila project is zero. It said after 20 years, AFHP will be 100 per cent owned by Guyana, and is expected to last for 100 years.

The government quoted an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that states the project is expected to save consumers approximately US$3.5 billion over 20 years through tariff reduction.

“It will lessen the country’s fuel import bill by about 20-25 percent resulting in savings of over US$90 million on fuel imports. Additionally, the project will add six percentage points to real GDP growth during the construction phase alone,” the government statement added.