Jagdeo says of analysts: ‘They killed the hydro’

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday laced into analysts who he charged used “charlatan economics” to kill the Amaila hydropower project and he said that the country had lost a major chance to advance its economic development.
Jagdeo, under whose administration plans for the Amaila project began in earnest, described the  stalemate following the pullout of Sithe Global, as a significant loss to the entire nation due to “partisanship and ignorance”, the Government Information Agency reported yesterday.

GINA said that Jagdeo was delivering brief remarks during the closing of the National Economic Forum at the Guyana International Conference Centre yesterday.

The former head of state, whose government had frequently been criticized for the manner in which the Amaila project was handled,  said that some of those who opposed the transformational project used ‘charlatan economics’ and cited the figures given by analysts  such as Christopher Ram, Ramon Gaskin and Professor Clive Thomas as being completely off the mark.  “They killed the hydro because of that,” he charged.

Bharrat Jagdeo
Bharrat Jagdeo

Jagdeo said that funds for projects such as those of the magnitude of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) were not easily available, and as such, it was a lost opportunity for the nation.

In relation to concerns about debt, he said “There is not a single cent of debt, outside of the money that we are spending on the road and the equity that we are taking that will accrue to this country, and yet we heard that is too high a debt that we are worried about, that’s why we didn’t approve the project.”

The former president said a significant part of what he called the local ‘financial cabal’ were ‘happily oblivious’ to the implications of the possible spinoff effects from other nations’ financial challenges.

Stressing that cheap energy is essential for the future of industrial growth, he said that the loss of the Amaila project would be the biggest loss for competitiveness and said that as a nation, “We can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot”.

Critics have said that PPP/C governments had 20 years to bring a hydro project to finality but failed to do this and the Amaila project has since been snagged between the government and the opposition-controlled Parliament.

Jagdeo questioned the wisdom of opposition politicians whom he reminded of the US$300 million spent in the late 1970s and early 80s by the People’s National Congress government to start the initial hydro power plant in
the Mazaruni area. This money, which adjusted for inflation amounts to over US$2 billion, and is still being repaid. It was all for naught since Guyana failed to gain anything from it, he noted.

Jagdeo, who has kept a relatively low profile since demitting office,  said that while healthy political debates and arguments were necessary for any democracy, the interests of the country must always come first, GINA reported.
Sithe Global pulled out of the project after A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) failed to vote in support of two Amaila measures in Parliament. APNU said that it had not been given full and satisfactory answers on a number of issues.

Reservations have been cited by several commentators over the final cost of power to consumers, the financing and interest charges in the project and the ability of GPL to handle the 165MW of power from Amaila.