Norwegian Company To Review Financial Model For Hydro-power Station In Guyana

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Mar 16, (CMC) – A Norwegian company has been enlisted to review the financial model of the proposed Amaila Falls Hydro-power station, according to an official statement issued here.

“A decision was recently made to utilize Norway’s largest consultancy firm, ‘Norconsult’, for this review. With over 50 years of international experience in power generation and energy supply engineering, the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet considered it the best option for an objective re-assessment,” according to the Government Information Agency (GINA).

It said, this decision follows up on one taken by Guyana and Norway, in December last year, to conduct a review of the project’s current financial model, which the government believes could shackle many generations of Guyanese to debt.

Guyana’s Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, has said, that going ahead with the current financial model, inherited from the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration, would be “criminal.”

Artist conception of Amalia Falls Hydro Project.

GINA said, the selection of Norconsult followed a shared assessment of consultant companies to conduct a financial model review of the Amaila Falls Project, which has been the subject of much debate in both countries.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has maintained that the existing financial mode, including the cost of construction and rate at which power would be sold by the Guyana Power and Light and re-sold to consumers, would save Guyana billions of dollars, annually, in fossil fuel sales.

While in opposition, the David Granger-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had strenuously objected to the project, resulting in investors pulling out from the near one billion US dollar initiative, because of a lack of political consensus.

Meanwhile Guyana and Norway are preparing for a visit, next month, by a Norwegian delegation, comprising members from the Ministry of Climate and Environment and Norway’s Development Agency (NORAD).

GINA said, the visit is expected to deepen the partnership and collaboration to complete outstanding deliverables of the MoU that the new government inherited.