THERE has been for some time a potent and misguided death-wish campaign in Guyana to present sweeping misunderstandings on the Amaila Hydropower Project (hydro). 

The hydro is, perhaps, the largest national project in Guyana’s history and if it graduates to reality, then the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will receive showers of national and international kudos. Indeed, all Guyanese at home and in the Diaspora would revel in such a massive accomplishment. The opposition should, too.
But here in Guyana, political self-interests, not the people’s interests, are damaging the political and developmental life of this nation. Right now, the opposition’s unyielding charade and death wish show over the hydro is what Guyanese have come to expect from politicians who live off politics.
Each day, the Guyanese people face a surge of politicians’ superfluous and indignant remarks on the PPP/C Government and the Presidency. The Government and President are in a continuous political struggle with opposition forces who frequently perceive every governmental action as negative, in their pursuit of weakening the PPP/C government’s functioning. I suspect the opposition does not recognize matters of national interest.
In the end, the opposition camouflages the facts of projects under the guise of improper transparency and accountability. This will not do, as the hydro deserves a better reception.
The $858.2 million 165 MW Amaila Hydropower Project is ailing, and there is talk that Sithe Global, the project developer of this hydro, is about to walk. President Donald Ramotar and his Government are still strategically placed to restore Amaila’s health. Nonetheless, renewing Amaila’s health means convincing Sithe Global to stay and see its completion. This should not be difficult as the opposition’s concerns are marred by irrelevance, unsubstantiveness, and political self-interest.
Various self-appointed people’s guardians, clearly with intense motivation to kill the hydro project, continue to raise spurious concerns over its viability, thusly: the huge liability of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) at the close of the project; dubious savings going to GPL’s consumers; Sithe Global’s expenditure and the amount of its investment at financial close; power transmission through only a single transmission route; unmet GPL’s power demand; and the overpriced hydro. Raphael Herz and Brian Kubeck of Sithe Global in a February 2012 communication to the press responded to these concerns, which I now present.
Herz and Kubeck explained that GPL’s liability will not increase in accordance with various cost components over time because GPL’s total liability will be a single all-in tariff cost repayable over 20 years. In fact, GPLs all-in tariff cost is estimated at US$114 million in Amaila’s first year falling to US$71 million in year 12.
The concern about GPL’s minimum or zero  savings to its consumers is unfounded , as at 2018 when the hydro is online, GPL estimated savings will be US$91 million after GPL would have paid its tariff; these savings are estimated on the basis that GPL would use fuel in 2018 at $115 per barrel crude oil.
And given that Guyana does have the hydro, in the first 12 years, GPL will have savings of  US$991 million or 40%, between years 13 and 20, savings will be US$1.15 billion or 71%, and beyond year 20, savings will amount to US$ 14.8 billion or 91%. I suspect that the predictable fluctuating and erratic global oil price increases will further increase GPL’s savings to its customers.
On the concern over Sithe Global’s expenditure, Herz and Kubeck indicated that Sithe Global spent  US$11.1 million at the beginning of 2012 from 2009, and that its cash equity estimates will be US$150 million at financial closure.
There is no single transmission line, as the design includes installing two electrical circuits. These transmission lines are expected to be reinforced with heavy duty steel towers and will be within a corridor of 100 meters in width.
In 2012, GPL’s annual energy demand was 669 GWh and is expected to be 895 GWh in 2016 when the hydro, hopefully, will kick in. In 2016, Linden will link up with the GPL grid adding an estimated 76 GWh; and companies using self-generators, taking advantage of the hydro’s reduced price, will add another 90 GWh, bringing total demand to 1.061 GWh; the hydro can cope with this energy demand and more.
And then there is the concern about the overpriced Amaila hydro; well, most hydros are in the range of US$320 million and US$360 million and Amaila is within this range; except that Amaila needs a 270km high voltage transmission line to sustain the electric grid, comprising 30% of the total cost. In addition, there will be new substations in the proximity of Georgetown.
The Opposition’s arguments do not stand up against rigorous evidence. For instance, the Shadow Minister of Finance Mr. Carl Greenidge, referring to the last parliamentary sitting, reiterated that the Government was unable to convince parliamentarians on the intrinsic worth of the hydro.  This assertion is unbelievable because public information is available demonstrating that the hydro is expected to lower energy costs, and producing other benefits. Right now, GPL , through its various substations, is using diesel or heavy fuel oil at high cost. Let me tell the Shadow Minister about some merits of the hydro because he seems to have assimilated the unfounded concerns of the self-appointed guardians of the Guyanese people.
As mentioned earlier, the hydro will offer reduced energy costs to GPL’s consumers in 2018; the hydro will offer a clean renewable energy source; the hydro will incur foreign exchange savings through zero reliance on costly imported diesel and heavy fuel oil; the hydro will provide reliability and a lowered electricity price which will be a powerful incentive for investments in the mining sector; the hydro will reduce greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the low carbon development strategy. There are other benefits presented through url http://amailahydropower.com/docs/AFHPresentation_7_30_13.pdf.
The Shadow Minister also referred to a 2012 Sithe Global comment that it would walk from the hydro project unless there is consensus among stakeholders. Indeed, Sithe Global repeated that comment a few days ago prior to the last parliamentary sitting. Now, Sithe Global’s request twice for consensus provides an entree for any opposition group harboring a death wish for the hydro to oppose that hydro in the National Assembly.
Indeed, at the recent parliamentary sitting, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) voted against the hydro, and at least, promotes its death wish. Given now the lack of consensus, Sithe Global, following through on its warning, has now intimated its intention to walk away from the hydro.