AT least two Brazilian companies are interested in bidding to construct Guyana’s much-anticipated Amaila Falls Hydropower station (AFHP).
The companies have already submitted proposals to the government, according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during his weekly press briefing at Freedom House, on Thursday.

He addressed the bilateral interactions between Guyana and Brazil at the recently concluded Summit of South American Leaders, which was hosted in Brazil by the nation’s President, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva.
The Brazilian companies interested in AFHP will add to a number of US and Canadian investors, which have also indicated interest in the AFHP.

“They were very interested in the hydro. We have now gotten at least two proposals from companies in Brazil to do the hydro, and some other companies out of the US… so soon you would see us going back out to another [tender] process in that regard,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
The government had indicated since last year that it would have to go back to tender for a company to construct the project, after it was forced to terminate a contract with China Railway Group Limited (CRGL).

The termination happened after CRGL had difficulties honouring its commitment to the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) contract that it signed on to.
After winning the bid for the BOOT contract, the company had requested to change the BOOT contract’s arrangement to an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract.

Under an EPC, CRGL would be responsible for all the engineering, procurement, and construction activities and deliver the completed project to the government within a predefined time and cost. However, that would require the government to source the financing, whereas under the BOOT model the project is financed by the contractor.
The AFHP project had been expected to commence construction in 2022 and be completed in 2025, and when completed, add 165 megawatts (MW) of energy to the national grid.

The AFHP was first identified in 1976 by the Canadian company “Monenco’ during an extensive survey of hydroelectric power potential in Guyana. Various studies have since justified and strongly supported the construction of the AFHP.