Amaila Falls Hydropower project facing setbacks; contract may be retendered -VP

An artist impression of the Amaila Hydropower Project.

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday said the Government is struggling to come to an agreement with China Railway Group Limited, the contracted company that was finalised for the development of the Amaila Hydropower Project. This was the same company that was initially selected to construct the Amaila Falls hydropower project in 2012 and received a no objection from the Cabinet in November 2021 for the same project. The Vice President explained that the company is looking to shift from a Build-Own-Operate Transfer (BOOT) which it initially bid for, to an Engineering, Procurement and Contraction (EPC) plus financing model.

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

Jagdeo said this will cause a setback in the commencement of the project as the contract is nowhere near to being finalised. According to VP Jagdeo, if the two parties cannot come to an agreement to go ahead with the BOOT model, they would not proceed with the company.

"If we can't change that, if we can't get it done under the BOOT, we cannot proceed with the company. We'll have to re-tender, we will not be able to conclude the contract because that is what the tender was about, a Build-Own-Operate Transfer model not an EPC finance mode[...] therefore in the last six months or so we have been struggling to reach an agreement.

With the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model, all of the costs of the project up to the commissioning date would be borne by the developer, who would operate the project for a 20-year BOOT period. At the end of the BOOT period, the project would revert to the Government at no cost. "We would not have any debt, there will be no debt associated. So that model they're saying they can't pursue so they want the Government to contract the debt and use them as contractor [...] we said we did not bid for that if we have have to do it with that model, we'd have to go back to tendering," the Vice President explained. The Government is looking to revive the 165 megawatts Amaila Falls Hydropower project that was voted out by the APNU/AFC opposition in 2012.

With the completion of this renewable energy project, it will reduce the electricity cost by 50% with construction to begin in 2022 and conclude in 2025. The company will be supplying electricity to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc. at of US $0.07737 per kilowatt-hour (KWH) once completed.