THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is accusing the government of not being correct on several pronouncements on the Amaila Falls deal as it calls for a discussion on the project.
If the administration refuses, the Opposition party said it will fan out village by village to disclose the ‘truth’. The PPP in a statement claimed that the government’s position on the mega project can be summarised in the 2015 budget debate when Finance Minister Winston Jordan told the House that to proceed with Amaila would be “a downright criminal act of deception”.
According to the PPP, the minister had said the government’s “investigations” revealed that the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) would be required to make annual payments amounting to US$130 million to the operators of the hydro facility, which will total US$2.6 billion over 20 years.
For starters, the PPP said the figure was not to be US$130 million per year; it was to be approximately US$100 million per year. That would have bought about 50 per cent more power than GPL’s entire generation in 2012. The PPP contends that to generate that much power without Amaila Falls would cost GPL almost $200 million using 2012 costs.
Mr Jordan had said that the government’s plans to not proceed with Amaila Falls were “strongly supported by the experts at the Inter-American Development Bank, who had considered the project to be too risky to attract the bank’s financing.”
But the PPP said the people should not listen to the Finance Minister as they deserve better, and the Amaila Falls Project was no “criminal deception” as he told the National Assembly. The party which was in government for 23 years before it was voted out at the last elections, said if the government does not go ahead with the Amaila project, Guyanese for years will have to contend with high electricity prices, which are already damaging the competitiveness of the private sector and the economy.
The PPP is calling on the government to join with it in a conversation on the Amaila Falls that is based on reason and globally credible analysis, and as a start, Minister Jordan should set the record straight, and “apologise for his inaccurate remarks to the National Assembly concerning Amaila Falls”.
The party led by former President Bharrat Jagdeo said if Mr Jordan and other members of the government still want assistance, after he apologises, its members are ready to avail themselves. “But if the government does not want to join with us, we will instead take the discussion on electricity prices and the cost of living to the people of our country, village by village. We will explain the facts on Amaila Falls. “Today’s low oil prices provide an ideal backdrop to move quickly with Amaila Falls, and to use the time of low oil prices to prepare for when they start going up again – as all global experts predict that they will,” the PPP said. It said there is no more time to lose and this is why it wants a discussion that will help the people of Guyana to look at Amaila Falls for themselves, and would welcome the government’s participation in the discussion.