– says project still viable

By Navendra Seoraj
AMIDST an uproar from the opposition side of the National Assembly, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, called out Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), David Patterson, for his ‘erroneous’ statements about the Amaila Falls Hydro Project and other projects which were developed by past People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administrations.

Minister Benn, who served as Minister of Public Works under a past PPP/C administration, defended the programmes which were rolled out under his watch.
Patterson, in a prior presentation during the Budget 2020 debates, said the former APNU+AFC administration found no “implementable project” when was elected to office in 2015.

In responding to this claim, Minister Benn was interrupted by loud heckling from opposition MPs, who only desisted after Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, intervened.

Contrary to Patterson’s claims, Benn said projects such as the West Coast Demerara (WCD) Road Expansion Project, the East Coast Demerara (ECD) Road Expansion Project and even the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion Project were inherited by the former administration, but were not even completed in some cases.

“So you cannot come here and say those things,” said Minister Benn, noting that a lot was done under successive PPP/C administrations.
Turning his attention to the Amaila Falls project, the minister said the former APNU+AFC government refused to put money into the potentially lucrative initiative. The Amaila Falls Hydro Project was designed as a 165-megawatt facility.

The minister even advised Patterson and his colleagues to read the Norwegian company, Norconsult, report on the Amaila Falls project.
Norconsult was selected by the former APNU+AFC administration, in 2016, to conduct a financial model review of the high-profile Amaila Falls Project.
The Stabroek News, in 2017, released some of the findings of the review, and among those findings was the point that the only realistic path for Guyana towards an “emission free” electricity sector is by developing its hydropower potential. And, the fastest way forward is to maintain Amaila Falls Hydro Project as the first major step for substituting its current oil fired generation.

Even now, Benn believes that the Amaila Falls project is viable, as it will provide thousands of megawatts of renewable energy.
“It is renewable and it could be brought to use…it will also allow us to move onto the next project, the Tipiru Falls project, which will allow us thousands of megawatts of export power to Brazil,” said the minister.

He said the records show that even Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon, and former Minister of Education under the coalition government, Rupert Roopnarine, while in opposition under a former PPP/C government, were flown into the interior and after reviewing the project outline, agreed it was good.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that the Amaila Falls Hydro Project is expected to cost just under US$1 billion and will be able to generate 165 megawatts of stable and reliable electricity for 11 solid months of the year, with the additional month during the dry season being used for scheduled maintenance.

The last time this newspaper checked, the project is still bankable, meaning that the financiers are still open to the idea of funding the project and all the technical studies are still relevant. Therefore, the restart timeline is expected to be much shorter than it was before 2015.

The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) currently sells electricity to the nation at about US$0.33 per kWh and this is expected to be reduced by 25 per cent within the first year of the operations of the Amaila Falls project, and by 50 per cent within five years; and by the end of 20 years by as much as 80 per cent.