Amaila Falls Project will bring ‘big boom’ to the private sector – PSC chairman

Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Paul Cheong has said that the highly-anticipated Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) will be a “huge benefit” to businesses operating in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.

The Chairman shared these comments during an interview on the National Communications Network (NCN), Thursday afternoon.

“Energy is a very important aspect of business and any household. Energy costs are a component of your costs. To be competitive you need to be efficient and you also need your costs to be as low as possible, and we see this project a as huge benefit to the private sector,” Cheong explained.

He said further, that the project would significantly reduce energy costs in households, thereby putting money back into the pockets of all Guyanese.

“It would also help to make other manufacturing entities or products feasible that currently face hardships, because of the current energy costs. We expect that with this project coming on board and the realisation of this project, that there will be a big boost, a big boom in the private sector in terms of manufacturing, exports which would lead to your products becoming competitive on the international market,” the chairman articulated.

Notably, the project will add 165 megawatts (MW) of energy to the grid, with intent to start construction in 2022 and completion in 2025.

Just recently, Cabinet granted its ‘no objection’ for the Office of the Prime Minister to engage China Railway Group Limited to construct the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) based on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model where the company will supply electricity to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc. at a cost not exceeding US$0.07737 per KWH and where the company will provide the entire equity required by the project and undertake all the risks associated with the project.