Having been embroiled in a plethora of controversies over the years and having been conceputalised ever since the early 1990s the price tag for the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project seems to rest on an escalator.
The project when it was first announced was set to cost some US$475M but the last time it was again revised Bharrat Jagdeo who has been integrally involved in the project has revised it to US$835M.
Dubbed as the single largest investment ever in the history of Guyana, the licence to develop the project was first given to the controversial Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall but after he was unable after years of searching and extensions by the Government on the License he had to sell it this year to Sithe Global.
But to date still advertises on its website
www.synergyholdings.net
that it is developing the Hydro Electric Project.
Nonetheless Government has accepted that Sithe Global is the new developer of the project but when they had travelled to Guyana their officials had announced a price-tag of $675M.
When Jagdeo explained the $200M increase over Sithe Global’s price tag he told the nation that it was as a result of added components of the financing such as insurance for the loan.
This insurance was a seemingly novel innovation as according to Jagdeo it was not in the original project at least not up to two years ago.
