says Dr. Jagdeo

VICE PRESIDENT and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has announced that, in approximately two weeks, the government will request proposals for the much-anticipated Amaila Falls Hydropower station (AFHP).

“We’re hoping within a maximum of two weeks to go out back for the requests of proposals,” he said during a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House.
He reported that, up until last week, the Government received several proposals and that Korea, Austria, and Brazil have shown interest in the project.
Several companies have expressed interest in bidding to construct Guyana’s AFHP, which could be expanded to aid in other energy needs.
Last month, the PPP General Secretary said that, with several direct proposals, there will have to be a competitive process to decide.
“Right now we have several direct proposals,” Dr. Jagdeo related.

He said that the AFHP was expected to bring in about 160 megawatts of power, but the former coalition government killed the project and failed to replace the power source.
Dr. Jagdeo further said there could be a possible solar expansion at the AFHP, and, hopefully, the bid will be completed at the end of this year.
In June, he had said that at least two Brazilian companies are interested in the AFHP, and will add to a number of US and Canadian investors which have also showed interest in the project.

“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 had 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 had 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.