NORWEGIAN company, Norconsult, has been selected to conduct a financial model review of the high-profile Amaila Falls Project in Guyana, which has been the subject of much debate in both countries.A statement from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment noted that the decision was recently made to utilize Norway’s largest consultancy firm for this review.
“With over 50 years of international experience in power generation and energy supply engineering, the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet considered it the best option for an objective re-assessment. This decision follows up on one taken by the country in Paris, France, in December 2015 to conduct a review of the project’s current financial model, which the government believes could shackle many generations of Guyanese to debt,” the statement noted.
According to the Ministry, while this process develops, the governments of Guyana and Norway are preparing for a visit in April 2016 by a Norwegian delegation comprising members from the Ministry of Climate and Environment and Norway’s Development Agency (NORAD).
The visit is expected to deepen the partnership and collaboration to complete outstanding deliverables of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the new government inherited.
“The Guyana team is actively preparing for this eagerly anticipated visit and all stakeholders will be engaged throughout this process,” the statement added.

CLEAN ENERGY INITIATIVES
The Guyana Chronicle had reported last year that Norway is keeping US$80 million of funding from its forest-saving deal with Guyana for the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, but the funds could be diverted to other clean energy initiatives if the project is deemed impractical, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said.
The two parties also face a tough deadline to determine the use of the funds and if a decision is not made by June this year the funds would go back to Norway, Jordan admitted.
The governments of Guyana and Norway have agreed that a “once and for all” study should be done to determine the feasibility of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.
In August 2013, the developer of the project, Sithe Global, pulled out saying its development funds hinged on support from all political forces. The current coalition government then made up of APNU and AFC as separate opposition parties, refused to support the project in the form it was presented, saying it would put the country under a severe debt burden and that there was no guarantee that power from Amaila would have been cheaper for Guyanese.
In addition to equity financing, Amaila’s cost, which kept increasing, would have come from loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and the China Development Bank.
The Amaila Falls Hydro Project was designed as a 165-megawatt facility, which would have delivered its power to consumers via power lines running through the jungle and onto various distribution points along the coast and other areas.