Georgetown : A team from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) that includes its United States Executive Director Gustavo Arnavat is scheduled to conduct aerial inspection of ongoing works at the much anticipated Amaila Falls Hydropower Project site, tomorrow.
Arnavat who is at present in Guyana meeting various government officials and other stakeholders, met President Donald Ramotar for talks in the company of Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh and IDB Country Representative Sophie Makonnen today.
He told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the visit is an important component of the IDB’s role as a financier, to understand the specific needs of its partner countries.
The Bank is a financing partner for the development of the US$840M project that will become the source of a large fraction of cheap and reliable electricity generation in the country.
It is one of the priority projects under the country’s revolutionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LDCS) that seeks to transfer Guyana’s economy onto a low carbon course.
That pathway has however, been impeded by attempts by the opposition, using its one seat majority in the Parliament and a major setback that was suffered last year when the Government was forced to terminate the contract awarded to Fip Motilall of Synergy Holdings. The company had failed to meet certain criteria under the terms of the contract awarded to him for completing the road leading to the site
The stretch of road to the site has a June 2013 deadline. Critical sections were inspected last month when President Ramotar and a team conducted aerial inspections at Butukari, the river crossing conditions and along the Kuribrong River.
Financial closure for the project is still pending but is likely to be concluded by the “second or third quarter of this year” according to President Ramotar who had told reporters in January about a suite of safeguard measures advanced by the IDB following environmental impact studies that were conducted.
You must be logged in to post a comment.