According to Minister of State Joseph Harmon, there is no secrecy surrounding Guyana’s partnership with Norway on forests, climate change and the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP).
Last Wednesday, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition released a letter it sent on August 24 to the Norwegian government and in which it outlined, among other issues, the lack of inclusion of the opposition and citizens in the final review of the controversial AFHP.
Asked at last Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing to respond to the PPP’s letter, Harmon said “it is very unfortunate that they have taken such an anti-national stance on this matter. We are in fact in engagement with Norway and the IDB. As I speak to you now, a team is at the Ministry of Finance discussing these matters.”
He added that these matters were elaborated upon in the National Assembly in a select committee at which he was present.
“The opposition were given full disclosure on all the matters they asked; about Norway, about the Green Climate Fund and about Amaila Falls,” he said, while adding that “it is clear that the decision which was taken was between the government of Guyana and Kingdom of Norway.
That decision was to set up an independent assessor to determine whether in fact this [AFHP] is going anywhere. All of that information is in the public domain.”
A press release from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, stated that “since the Minister of Natural Resource’s announcement in April that such a review [of AFHP] would be conducted and expected to be concluded in September, 2016, there has been no further information until a media report which stated that Norwegian company, Norconsult, hired to carry out the fact-based review had requested more time to conclude its report.”
Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman last week informed that the deadline for the report on a review of the financial model of the AFHP has been extended. The reason for the extension was that Norconsult, the Norwegian company contracted to undertake the task, has asked government for more time.
