ANOTHER delegation of Brazilian officials met with Guyanese counterparts yesterday to engage in discussions on hydropower development in Guyana.

It was the second visiting team since Brazil President Lula Da Silva undertook the missions at the ceremonial opening of the Takutu River Bridge, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon disclosed at his post-Cabinet media briefing, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.

He said the delegations comprised technical and professional members of the Brazilian Government and its State agencies conducting, as promised, preliminary discussions.

Luncheon said talks on the development and the role that could be played by Brazil on the Lethem/Linden road took place and ended last week.

But yesterday, the other of two delegations met similarly to pronounce on the part Brazil can assume on hydropower development here, he explained.

Luncheon said there is a development plan for the Lethem/Linden road that has already been adapted and shared.

But he said the financial model that sees the road develop along the lines that President Jagdeo and President Lula intend has not been settled.

“The visit by the Brazilians here is a further example of the lengths to which we have gone to look at the feasibility of financing the road and with their inputs, so it doesn’t appear to be a straightforward public financing, government financing, that indeed we would have to bring new forms of financing infrastructure into play,” he hinted.

“Not forms only that rely on domestic forces as was done with the public/private mix leading to the Berbice River Bridge but now we are talking about new forms that involve international finance capital and even contributions, loans and grants from neighbouring countries and bilaterally,” Luncheon elaborated.

He said, once the financing is established, it will have to take with it the conditions under which it is available and many times those would be related to supervision, recovery of debts, toll stations, sale of land and such.

“In essence, it is a bit too early, unless we wanted to speculate, unless we want to say to the world we are so determined that anything you want we are willing to give so that this road could be financed, and we haven’t said that,” Luncheon pointed out.

President Bharrat Jagdeo said Monday that he is pleased with the pace of discussions between Guyana and Brazil following a recent visit by the first team from the neighbouring republic.

That group met Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and several Cabinet Ministers, including Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh and Transport and Hydraulics Minister, Mr. Robeson Benn and top officials from related ministries, at Office of the President, for exploratory talks.