President Ramotar stressed that this issue has to be fixed, if the agriculture sector in Guyana is to be diversified, and once again emphasised that the government is going to continue to pursue the hydropower project.

 

He said that this project is extremely important for development in Guyana. The President added that it is especially important for the creation of jobs in the society, noting that evidence has shown that there is a spurt of development anywhere in the world where there is cheap energy.

Tell Jaba the Hut that squatting on the GUYSUCO board, lined his pockets and run the company to the ground is not the way to "fix the agricultural sector" 

Jaba couldn't even run Gimpex and you put him to run de country. What are his success factors to qualify him for the highest position in the country?

This depended on whether the retail price of electricity would have fallen. We know that was not going to happen because of all the kick back schemes built into the final project cost. The APNU saved the nation from the financial plunder of Ramotar/Jagdeo/Arfan/Ashni/Brassington/Rohee/Robert.

This is financial rape and economic slaughter

Dear Editor,
As usual, Kaieteur News ‘buss the bag’ on the nasty, corrupt, degenerate PPP banditry and misuse of taxpayers’ money. The PPP has been lying to Guyanese all along on the Amaila Falls hydro project. All along they adamantly stated the government is investing only US $100 million when in fact, the PPP was secretly investing US $157.2 million and is providing a guaranteed US$36 million debt reserve for GPL.
There are burning questions the Guyanese people are asking of the PPP now in light of these revelations. Who owns the US $57.2 million the PPP government lied to the nation about and tried to hide from the public? Is it owned by the people of Guyana or by individuals or companies linked to the PPP cabal and the soup drinkers connected to the oligarchy?
If owned by the elites – who are they? What are their names? What corporate entities are they hiding under? Who is putting up this money? If this US$57.2 million came from the taxpayers of Guyana, why the secrecy, hiding and lying about using it? Was it hidden to enable the profits and returns on that US$57.2 million to be taken and secreted away without the Guyanese people knowing? Were there plans to steal this US$57.2 million and the returns on equity it would have produced without the Guyanese people knowing?
After all, US$57.2 million of taxpayers’ money at 19% guaranteed return on investment on the initial sum of US$57.2M for 20 years is a guaranteed US $217.36 million in returns alone. Were a pack of vagabonds planning on investing the Guyanese people’s money and secretly pocketing those hefty returns? Were these rogues planning on burdening the Guyanese people by forcing GPL to raise light bills on Guyanese in order for them to collect their US$217.36 million?
It is grossly unpatriotic, unequivocally ‘dunce’, abjectly incompetent, frighteningly stupid and possibly willfully fraudulent, to knowingly enter into a deal where you are investing and guaranteeing more (US$193.2 million) than the other investor (US$157.4 million) yet you agree to a minority stake in the enterprise (40%) versus the other investor (60%).
How could any investor and even worse, any government, willfully debase itself and the investment of the nation it represents in a transaction in this sheepish, gutless and spineless fashion? How could the PPP government invest and guarantee US $193.2 million in this project while Sithe Global invests US$157.4 M and Sithe ends up owning 60% of Amaila and Guyana owns just 40%? How does the PPP guarantee 55% of this project cost from investors yet agree to 40% ownership of the company?
Even at US$157.2 million versus US $157.4 million, how could this shameless and pathetic PPP bunch accept 20% less ownership stake when Sithe Global invested only US$0.2 million more than the government?
The evidence strongly suggests this is not stupidity, imbecility, idiocy, tomfoolery, incompetence and ineptitude any more. It is not Donald Ramotar’s new favorite word ‘jackassery’. Not when the PPP has experience in handling large scale projects. This is appearing more like deliberate non-disclosure, false representation, misrepresentation, abuse of position of trust and deprivation to the taxpayers. This is financial rape and economic slaughter.
M. Maxwell

Indeed a financial rape of the poor people's tax money.

Brassington embarrassed over Amaila revelations

…was unaware of Sithe Global repayment arrangement – Chris Ram

“Perhaps Brassington could tell the public whose debt it would be, if for any reason GPL is unable to meet its monthly payments to Sithe Global.”

Financial Analyst Christopher Ram has accused Guyana’s lead negotiator on the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, Winston Brassington, of being embarrassed by the revelation of the amateurism he and his team displayed in negotiations with Sithe Global.
Brassington on Wednesday last sought to respond to the assertions being made by Ram, by firstly lamenting that he (Ram) circulated confidential information.

Ram says he is not surprised that Brassington took almost two weeks “to make up a response.”
“I recall my own discomfort for him (Brassington) that on the critical issue of repayment of Sithe’s capital, he was unaware of what Sithe had inserted in the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and had to be corrected by one of his advisors,” Ram asserted.
This publication reported during the past week that Government had agreed to pay Sithe Global interest on money already repaid. Ram had explained that the arrangement is akin to depositing $100,000 in a bank, withdrawing $90,000, but the bank continues to pay you interest for twenty years on the initial deposit of $100,000.
Cheap Shots
Brassington in his response to Ram on Wednesday last, had said the Financial Analyst agreed there would be no public debt as a result of Amaila.
Ram retorted that this was among the many “cheap shots thrown at me by Brassington that can be easily dispatched”.
Ram denied saying that he conceded no public debt and reminded that what he did in fact say was, “by going to the National Assembly, the Government acknowledged the debt implications of the project.”
The financial analyst said that “perhaps Brassington could tell the public whose debt it would be, if for any reason GPL is unable to meet its monthly obligations under the PPA which Sithe (Global) was planning to impose and which he and his advisors meekly accepted.”
Brassington had also indicated that Ram accepted the government’s view that with Amaila the subsidy paid to GPL would be eliminated.
Ram says that the reason for this is simple, given that under the arrangement with Sithe Global any subsidies to the power company would have served as a breach of contract. This means that the power company would have to adjust its tariffs annually in order to make its payments and meet its expenditure, without any subsidy from government.
“No Guyanese, let alone Ram, could have any opinion or option on subsidies post-Amaila: Brassington’s negotiation friends at Sithe (Global) put paid to that.”
Padded Costs
Ram said too that Brassington, the lead negotiator for Guyana on the Amaila project, seemed entirely unaware that Sithe Global or its Special Purpose Vehicle Company was going to be reimbursed for, or credited with seemingly padded costs and fees.
Ram pointed out that this information can be had in the feasibility report for the project, which was submitted in March 2010 by an Argentina-based entity and “ducked for more than three years.”

The Financial Analyst said that during his meeting with Brassington and his team, they agreed that Sithe Global would recover substantially, which would effectively reduce its “equity” commitment of US$150M.
Ram said that Sithe Global was geared to recover unlimited fees and expenses of counsel and other consultants; unlimited out-of-pocket costs including travel and fees and expenses of firms or organizations hired by the company; unlimited costs and expenses incurred for the procurement of the construction and related contracts.
Ram said that the company would have also recovered all costs incurred prior to the commencement date of the project, including US$12M, to pay Makeswhar Fip Motilall, who had failed to meet even the most basic condition of the Interim Licence.
WOEFULLY UNAWARE
Given the revelations, Ram opines that Brassington and his team seemed woefully unaware of aspects of the Hydro-Electric Power Regulations.
Ram charged that, “Brassington’s leadership of the negotiations stood out for its dangerous unfamiliarity with the law governing hydro-electric power…Worse, he agreed to a billion-dollar legal bill that appears to have served all but the interest of the Guyanese taxpayer and consumer.”
Ram said too that in seeking to prove that electricity rates will decrease, through the Amaila Hydro Project, Brassington, “entertains himself in fantasies about the exchange rate, dramatic system loss reductions, the end of private generation of power, a competently managed GPL and full rates charged in Linden for power.”
In his blistering response, Ram concluded that, “it is of course worth noting that Brassington has not addressed the fatal flaws of the project identified by Kaehne Consulting Ltd. of Canada or Mercados of Argentina, whose reports he misrepresents, particularly about Amaila’s hydrology and the cost to be paid by GPL for power to be purchased from Amaila.

I am happy that our president is still keeping the dream and promise to the Guyanese people that the Amaila Hydro Project will become a reality without the involvement of the joint opposition. Thank you president Ramotar!

As usual, Kaieteur News ‘buss the bag’ on the nasty, corrupt, degenerate PPP banditry and misuse of taxpayers’ money. The PPP has been lying to Guyanese all along on the Amaila Falls hydro project. All along they adamantly stated the government is investing only US $100 million when in fact, the PPP was secretly investing US $157.2 million and is providing a guaranteed US$36 million debt reserve for GPL.