THE Private Sector Commission (PSC) is critical of the way in which the political opposition is using its Parliamentary advantage as a bargaining-chip, even as it appeals for unanimity for two important pieces of legislation that will appear before the National Assembly today.

If passed, the Guarantee of Loans (Public Corporations and Companies) Act and the Hydro-Electric Power (Amendment) Bill 2013 will clear the way for the release of the US$175M Inter American Development Bank (IDB) loan to construct the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP).
All eyes will be on the political Opposition which has, on two consecutive occasions, cut funding to the hydro project, but a PSC panel that held a discussion on the National Communications Network (NCN) yesterday suspects that the AFHP will be used as another avenue for a political trade off similar to the financial crimes legislation that was faced with a fast approaching deadline.
Having participated in most of the stakeholder discussions on the project and inspected the road project recently, A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) appeared to be more inclined but the Alliance For Change (AFC) has not been subtle about its intractable posturing.
The party is still holding to its demand for a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and for the President to assent to the Former President’s Amendment Bill.
However, the PSC is yet to be convinced that the political Opposition has a logical explanation for refusing the AFHP project.
“If there is something wrong with the project (AFHP) financially or technically…say what’s wrong with it. We haven’t seen it. You can’t address a complaint that’s not made. What we (in the Private Sector) are detecting is a political discomfort in arriving at a conclusion,” Kit Nascimento, Communication, Environment and Quality Subcommittee Chair in the PSC said.
He was accompanied by Chair of the Trade and Investment Sub Committee, Ramesh Dookhoo, and Chair of the Governance Sub Committee, Jerry Gouveia.
The group is even more baffled that the political Opposition would be critical of a project that has tremendous promise for the country’s energy sector and they have been privy to all its documentation.
Gouveia recalled berating the Alliance For Change (AFC) during a meeting for their “nonsensical methodology” for cutting funding to the project’s access road, concluding that the move was all political.
“They (political Opposition) have a right to know, they have a right to ask questions, but in the final analysis we need to put Guyana first. We need to put this economy, job creation, our young people, first and foremost,” Gouveia argued.
The PSC, in a statement issued recently, had appealed to the Government and the parliamentary Opposition to work together to ensure the smooth passage of required legislation, by July 30.
As the IDB’s Board of Directors prepare to meet in October for consideration of the loan, Nascimento said their persuasion will, in large part, be influenced by “Guyana’s readiness”.
“The IDB has made it very clear that they are waiting to see if the country is behind this project… the IDB will not… put money into this project if the IDB comes to the conclusion that a substantial part of the country is against it. So they are looking to see not merely if the Government supports it, but indeed if the parliamentary Opposition supports it and if the private sector supports it,” Nascimento said.
The AFHP is touted as the medium and long-term strategy for Guyana’s electricity sector where cheap and reliable supply of energy will be sourced, for the benefit of the domestic and commercial consumers.
Dookhoo explained that the hydropower will be a major supplement to growth in the manufacturing sector which he described as lackluster, and a solution to the high electricity cost many face.
According to a report from the Government Information Agency, the project also has potential to influence investor confidence and Guyana’s footprint on the environment.