In the intense, ongoing debate about the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project I confess to finding myself mystified. I have tried to be as objective as possible by leaving aside the partisan political vitriol injected into every national debate and confining myself to the technical and financial arguments. And so it is one day I read the case for the project and am satisfied that it will take us to the promised land of cheap, reliable, abundant energy for all. Only to read the next day the case against and become convinced that, no, the project will lead us into national bankruptcy and by no means solve our 50-year-old electricity supply problem.
And so my poor, nonplussed mind twists itself into ever more confusing arguments with itself and can find no conclusion. In cancelling, will we miss out or are we dodging a bullet? In advance, can we really know? Might there simply be too many unknown unknowns?
So what is the sensible way forward? Perhaps one should start with the two conclusions that seemed to be agreed by everyone – that a hydroelectric project, probably at Amaila Falls since the road there is being built anyway, is the answer to our energy supply needs in the future and, secondly, that GPL as the vehicle to use and transmit the new power has to be made to run better.
Cannot concessions on all sides accumulate around these two points of agreement and a national consensus emerge quickly to
