| – Unfortunately,China Jerseys Cheap, AFC did too little too late – Donald Ramotar President Donald Ramotar has reacted to the negative vote by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) which forced the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project developers, Sithe Global, to pull out, by emphasizing that the nation is still in danger of losing more money.According to Ramotar, the US$80M that Guyana earned from Norway is in real danger of being lost, since this was to be injected into the Hydro Electric project as part of Guyana’s equity.President Donald RamotarRamotar, in an address to the nation yesterday, lamented also that the US$15M already spent to build the access road, along with the amounts still to be paid contractually to complete the road, would have been effectively wasted.“Much of this, it should be noted, was approved by the joint opposition in the 2012 Budget…Now with their rejection of support for this project they have in essence wasted these funds.”The President did seek to assure the nation that, “I will continue to work to get cheaper energy for Guyana… I will continue to try to convince investors to stay on and invest in this project, and in this country, and I still hope that the opposition could see the bigger picture, and that they would put the interests of our people above narrow party lines and rise to the call to support this project.”Sithe Global wanted full Parliamentary support for the project because of the magnitude of its investment, US$157M, and according to Ramotar, “because of the lack of support from all the opposition parties, the country has lost the prestigious international partners’ support.”The opposition has maintained that it had not been fully informed on the project, but President Ramotar insists that this is not so.Ramotar in his address said “the opposition parties cannot say that there was not full disclosure or that they were not fully engaged on this project…They were privy to exactly the same information that the Government had.”He said that despite its overtures to the political opposition, “When the bill and amended debt ceiling motion were returned to the National Assembly, APNU voted against it.”The Hydro Electric (Amendment) Bill and motion to adjust the debt ceiling guarantee for public corporations, were initially voted down on July 18,Brad Richards Red Wings Jersey, last, but were resurrected on August 7,Cheap Sports Jerseys, when it was approved with a majority vote.APNU opposed the legislative changes, but the Alliance for Change (AFC) voted in support,Deion Sanders Falcons Jersey, along with the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).“For the first time the AFC voted for the bill, but not before slashing the debt ceiling guarantee from $130B to $50B…This is even after we acceded to their request to confine the debt ceiling to only the Amaila Falls Project…Unfortunately, the AFC did too little too late,” Ramotar said.Government had initially sought a guarantee of US$150B,NFL Jerseys China Online, but did not specify the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project or Guyana Power and Light Inc., which sparked speculation about its carte blanche nature.“We exerted great efforts to stress the importance of this project to the opposition parties and to all stakeholders in the country…Sadly the opposition remained unconvinced,” Ramotar said.He also pointed out that following the 2011General and Regional elections, government placed the project as a priority,Deion Jones Falcons Jersey, given that “no one needs convincing that cheaper energy is indispensable to faster and greater advancement of our economy and country, moving Guyana from a commodity/agricultural based economy to one that manufactures value added products.”“I cannot over-emphasise the fact that a successful Hydro project will bring direct and indirect benefits to every single Guyanese.” |
