OPPOSITION Member of Parliament, Catherine Hughes, was, on Wednesday, called out in the National Assembly for falsely asserting that government failed to provide timely information about the gas-to-energy project.

While defending an opposition motion to alter the Standing Orders to insert a four-day timeline for the Speaker of the National Assembly to object to questions and motions, Hughes claimed that information related to the project was delayed by Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips.

She stated, “12 questions were asked on January 20, on this very important $1.8 billion US project and Mr. Speaker, a response was given 27 days later…on the 3rd of March I received a written response.”

However, contrary to what MP Hughes indicated, information was accessible within the public domain that addressed concerns and questions.

On January 22, the Prime Minister, in an article in the news outlet OilNow, addressed details surrounding the gas-to-energy project.

The project’s cost was broken down by PM Phillips in the National Assembly. He stated that the pipeline costs US$1 billion.

That information was provided, following questions submitted by opposition MP, Volda Lawrence.

Denouncing these assertions, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance and Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira detailed; “According to the minutes of proceedings of this house, the 16th of January, 2023, Mrs. Volda Lawrence asked the prime minister on the gas-to-shore pipeline project. Her question was published on December the 12th and it was answered on January the 16th, in less than a month or about a month.

“It was answered by the prime minister and the minutes of the proceedings show the prime minister’s answers to the questions, so I don’t know what Mrs. Hughes is talking about, because a minister doesn’t need to answer the same question twice.”

The government continues to perform its duties in a transparent and accountable manner.

“Contrary to the unfounded claims by the Parliamentary Opposition, the Government of Guyana has been providing timely and updated information on the transformative gas-to-shore project, which will significantly reduce electricity cost by 50 per cent,” Teixeira expressed.

Opposition Member of Parliament, Catherine Hughes’ false claim, Minister Teixeira said, is blatantly misleading and is yet another wild attempt by the opposition to derail the project that will single-handedly change the course of energy production with remarkable benefits for households across the country while boosting capacity in manufacturing and other sectors thus unlocking tremendous opportunities for business development.

Since taking office in August, 2020, Teixeira said the PPP/C administration has effectively articulated and defined Government’s policy approach to the gas-to-shore project at varying public forums led by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali; Prime Minister, Mark Phillips and Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

Through President Ali’s public address in November last year, the governance minister said the nation was informed of Cabinet’s no-objection to US-based CH4/Lindsayca being ranked number one to build the two plants under an Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contract.

In February of this year, Prime Minister Phillips took the time to provide a detailed outline of the associated cost of the project in response to Hughes’ opposition colleague, Volda Lawrence.

“If Hughes was a judicious MP and attentive to the proceedings of the National Assembly, she should have recalled the information provided by the Prime Minister,” Minister Teixeira stated.

In providing a breakdown of the project costs, the Prime Minister outlined that the pipeline cost is about US$1 billion, which is separate from the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract inked with CH4/Lindsayca in December 2022 for the integrated natural gas liquids (NGL) plant and the 300-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant at Wales, West Coast Demerara (WCD), Region Three.

The Prime Minister had outlined to the National Assembly that the EPC contract cost was US$759.88 million while the supervision contract awarded to Engineers India Limited was to the tune of US$23 million.

The Government’s commitment to transparency has seen Vice President Jagdeo consistently responding to questions from reporters about the project at press conferences.

Minister Teixeira underscored that such frequent media engagements on national projects were non-existent when Hughes and the APNU+AFC were in Government.

“As we have witnessed previously with the Amelia Falls project, documents provided by the PPP/C administration in good faith, and in the interest of transparency and good governance, were surreptitiously used by the opposition to stymie the project while securing public relations and other contracts for their own companies by strong-arming the investor. The Government of Guyana recognises the important role of providing public information within our democracy and will therefore continue to engage with residents and other relevant stakeholders on the gas-to-shore project,” Teixeira explained.