Financial closure for Amaila Falls project closer to reality – President
President Donald Ramotar is confident that financial conclusion for the much talked about Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) is within reach.
Financial closure for the project is still pending but is likely to be concluded by the second or third quarter of this year.
The Inter American Development Bank (IDB) is a financing partner for the development of the US$840M project that will become the source of a large proportion of cheap and reliable electricity generation in the country.
It is one of the priority projects under the country’s revolutionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LDCS) that seeks to transfer Guyana’s economy onto a low carbon trajectory.
Some 90 percent of the country’s energy generation will come from the Amaila Falls project which is at present awaiting the completion of a long stretch of road that by June this year is expected to be substantially completed.
The road project had reached a stumbling block when Synergy Holdings had failed to meet certain criteria under the terms of the contract forcing the Government to terminate its services. Budgetary allocations to the project were also cut by the one seat majority opposition combined in Parliament.
Today, President Ramotar expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of works.
China Rail was the firm awarded the contract to build Amaila Falls Hydro Project, and recently Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said once an agreement is finalised with the Chinese company, China Rail Construction to execute works on a section (block 7) described as very technical and difficult, the previous agreements with local contractors to complete the same stretch will be voided.
Before the actual construction of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project begins, an all-weather access road to the proposed site is necessary for the transportation of heavy-duty equipment needed for the construction.
