–President Ali says

INVESTORS from the United States of America and Canada have signalled their interest in the Amaila Falls hydropower project (AFHP), President, Dr Irfaan Ali has said.

The Head-of-State in an invited comment said that several bilateral partners have made proposals for the project.

“We are doing assessments now, we have a lot of interesting proposals from different bilateral partners. When I was in the US, I had a meeting with the energy secretary and her entire staff and I mentioned this project and the importance of this project and opening to the US… the Canadians have expressed some interest,” Dr Ali said, adding that those investors are being engaged.

“So, there is a lot of bilateral talks going on and then we will have to make a structured decision as to how we go forward,” the Head of State related.

In May of this year, Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had announced that the project will go back to tender, as the then executing company, China Railway Group Limited (CRGL), had difficulties in honouring its commitment to the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) contract that it signed.

The company had requested to change the BOOT contract’s arrangement to an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract.

“We have been in discussion since November last year. The negotiations are very difficult. As of April 2022, they are having a hard time doing the BOOT contract and want EPC financing. We’re still trying to get them to meet the commitment that they bid for [but] for the last six months we have been struggling to reach the conclusion; we will have to give a deadline [on negotiations],” Dr Jagdeo related.

The AFHP project was slated to commence this year and be completed in 2025; this will add 165 megawatts (MW) of energy to the national grid.