Just over a month after Minister of State Joseph Harmon had declared that the APNU+AFC administration had set aside the 165 MV Amalia Falls Hydropower Project, the private sector appears to have not yet written off the controversial power supply option as a vehicle for accelerating the growth of the country’s manufacturing sector.
On Friday, Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) President Shyam Nokta declared at the opening of the public/private sector-sponsored Uncapped agro processing product promotion and marketing event at the Sophia Exhibition Centre that when all of the options for ending the electricity woes plaguing the sector are taken account of, hydropower should remain an option. ”Considering the options for renewable energy, hydropower has emerged as the most feasible and at-scale intervention. However, the most advanced hydropower option, Amaila Falls, continues to be held up in uncertainty,” Nokta declared.”
Harmon had said in an interview with Stabroek News on October 1 that cost considerations had compelled the Granger administration to set aside the Amaila Falls project and instead pursue an energy mix that included natural gas.
