Feasibility studies to be done in Mazaruni for hydropower development – Foreign Minister updates House

Government will be moving towards conducting pre-feasibility and feasibility studies on the development of a hydropower project in the Mazaruni, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett informed the National Assembly today.

The Foreign Affairs Minister was at the time providing an update on the progress of discussions between Guyana and Brazil with regards to the Memorandum of Understanding on Infrastructure Development which was signed between the two countries on December 5, 2013, with the aim of stimulating projects in the area of hydropower, road development and the construction of a deep water port.

The MOU established a Guyana-Brazil Joint Technical Group with a mandate to produce proposals for concrete actions, as well as timetables for the implementation of four projects, to be presented to the Presidents of both states. These projects were; the construction of hydroelectric plants, construction of transmission lines needed to distribute any energy that will be generated eventually, improvement of the Guyana-Brazil road link and the construction of a deep water port.

Minister Rodrigues-Birkett informed the National Assembly that after four meetings of the Joint Technical Working Group, a report was submitted in July 2013 to the Presidents of the two states. The Minister told the House that among the recommendations in the report is that the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies be carried out at two sites in the Middle and Upper Mazaruni in order to make a final determination on the way forward with respect to hydropower development. She that Government will be moving to commence briefing with the parties represented in the National Assembly and other stakeholders, including the communities in Middle and Upper Mazaruni in the next few weeks, on the studies.

Meanwhile the Minister also informed that in terms of the Linden-Lethem road, the Joint Working Group in the report advised that to complement the work already done, an engineering design of the road must be completed in order to advance the project.  She said that with regards to the development of a deep water port, the Joint Working Group in the report felt that if there was positive movement on the Linden-Lethem road and the hydro-power development, there will be automatic interest in the port by the private sector.

According to the Minister, the Group though  recognising the road and the port are separate projects, felt that they are inter-related because the port will be dependent in part on goods coming out of Brazil, mainly the city of Manaus and estimated that the route will reduce time and cost associated with export from Northern Brazil.

The Report has been endorsed and approved by the Presidents of both Guyana and Brazil, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett informed.

Both Presidents have approved the establishment of a Joint Commission for the Development of Infrastructure Projects in Guyana, which would monitor the progress of the projects agreed upon, the Minister said. The Commission is being chaired on the Guyana-side by Ambassador Elisabeth Harper.