Daily Opposition forays on Amaila are attempts to misrepresent facts, mislead Guyanese : - Minister of Finance

Written by Nadine Sanchara, Monday, 02 September 2013 20:40, Source

“LET me say that, without fear of contradiction, any suggestion by the Opposition that they were not afforded adequate opportunity to interrogate and scrutinise this project is a factual misrepresentation,” Ashni Singh

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh says that the daily forays in the media by members of the opposition and their “mouthpieces and spokespersons” relating to the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) are an attempt to misrepresent the facts and mislead the Guyanese people.

The minister was at the time addressing a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) media briefing at Freedom House on Robb Street, Georgetown, yesterday.

Singh said that the daily exercise by the Opposition is merely to find a “fig leaf” behind which they would like to hide, particularly because of the damage that they have inflicted to the progress that was being made towards realising the hydropower project.

He stressed that the AFHP is the first project of its kind that was brought remotely close to the point of realisation, adding that prior to July this year, there was a hydropower project that would supply 150-160 megawatts of power, which would meet the demands of the entire national grid.

According to Singh, this would have been done without the contracting of any public sector borrowing, but with the involvement of a large, credible international investor, namely the Blackstone Group, and with the support of at least two large, credible development institutions, namely the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the China Development Bank.

However, the AFHP has been threatened after Sithe Global, of the Blackstone Group, withdrew from the project citing the need for national consensus, following the non-support of the major opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), for the amendments to the Hydroelectric Act and a motion to increase the debt ceiling on external loans, both of which were critical to the AFHP.

The minister noted that the government has shared with the parliamentary Opposition the fullest set of details related to the project.

He highlighted also that President Donald Ramotar himself had convened a consultation meeting in March last year, and invited the leader and other members of the opposition parties, where a technical presentation on the project was made.

He said that the opposition was invited to ask any questions that they may have had, but none was asked.

In addition, Singh noted that there were follow-up consultations in March and June this year, and once again no questions were asked by the opposition.

“Let me say that, without fear of contradiction, any suggestion by the opposition that they were not afforded adequate opportunity to interrogate and scrutinise this project is a factual misrepresentation,” he emphasised.

According to the minister, examples of the facts relating to the AFHP being subtly distorted to create a misleading impression can be seen in newspapers every day.

However, he pointed out specifically that in yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News “much ado is made about the interest rate that the IDB was going to charge on this project.”

He was referring to an article headlined “More shocking revelations about Amaila Hydro project” in which Leader of the AFC, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan was quoted as saying that they did not know that the interest rate was going to be concessional, and that they never knew what the interest rate would be

.
Singh said, though, that the presentation which was made to the opposition parties more than a year ago, clearly indicated the total cost of financing, even if it did not indicate the interest rate, and they had an opportunity to ask, if they wanted to, what was expected of the terms of financing. He added that if they had asked then, the latest information available would have been provided.

He further stressed that it is a widely known fact that concessional financing is only available to fund public sector projects for certain countries that meet certain eligibility criteria.

“That is a widely known fact and Mr. Ramjattan cannot pretend to be a Member of Parliament and not be aware of this fact,” he said.

Moreover, Singh stated that it is a “universally known fact” that the AFHP is a private sector project with the government contracting no borrowing, but the private investors would have been the borrowers.

“So the lending was private sector lending at private sector rates. So to come now and treat this as a huge exposÉ, and some fact that has been suddenly discovered and to manufacture a controversy surrounding this matter is nothing short of an attempt to mislead the people of Guyana,” he asserted.

He stated that the opposition, by their parliamentary action, has inflicted damage and delay to the progress of the AFHP, noting that the statement by the Blackstone Group that national consensus was a requirement was well known since it was said at a public forum, in a press release, and in a letter published in local newspapers before the critical parliamentary sitting.

Singh further said that he hopes the media is “sufficiently sophisticated” to debunk and distil the attempts at misrepresentation by the parliamentary opposition, adding that he is confident that the people of Guyana are judicious in their judgement of matters of national importance.

Propaganda War
He stressed that the AFC and the APNU have placed Amaila in jeopardy, and that they know that the people of Guyana have judged them harshly for placing the project in this position. As such, he said that the parties are now engaging in a “propaganda war” to justify their actions.

“That is the bottom line; there are no two ways about it. They are now trying to justify to the people of Guyana the actions that they took that placed Amaila in jeopardy. That is the reason for their daily forays in the media and their misrepresentation of the facts,” he said.