1 day Ago
Jan 05, 2025 News ...
says loan policy needed to guide politicians Kaieteur News- Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton has said that Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo must explain to the nation how he has determined the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project would be feasible, when the final cost of the initiative is still unknown. Norton during a press conference on Friday was at the time responding to a question from this newspaper when he explained, “I cannot say to you what the final cost will be, but in any project where there are delays, and there is not proper planning and execution, the final cost will go up. I think this thing started at just over US$900 million and I think it has gone way past US$1B, so the figures are showing it is already going up.
” Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton. The GTE project comprises a pipeline- built by ExxonMobil- along with a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and power plant, being constructed by the Government of Guyana (GoG), with funding from the United States Export Import (US EXIM) Bank. According to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted by Exxon for the pipeline, gas will be transported to the Wales Development Site, West Bank Demerara from the Liza One and Liza Two projects in the Stabroek Block.
With the reserves of these two projects likely to be depleted soon, VP Jagdeo had indicated plans to utilize gas from others projects to support the project. This will further drive up the cost of the project. Norton was asked how Guyanese could determine the feasibility of the project for themselves, since the final cost is still unknown, when he said the Vice President should explain.
“That is a question for the Vice President. In the Budget the last time, I did point out to the Prime Minister we don’t know the cost of it, we don’t know at what price the electricity will be sold..
.any proper economist would ensure those things happen. In fact, he (Jagdeo) criticized APNU for having feasibility studies,” the Opposition Leader noted.
Meanwhile, on the loan contracted to finance the two gas plants, Norton pointed to the need for Guyana to be careful in how it increases its debt burden. “I have always argued, that we have to be sensible in how we (are) taking loans that we should use some of our oil resources and only if the loan is of real low interest, we should seek to take it, or the project is of absolute necessity. In this case therefore I would say that the government didn’t even do a feasibility study, so one doesn’t even know if this project, how successful it will be,” he argued.
Norton said that while the outcome of the project is still uncertain, it is the hope of the Opposition that it does not turn out as detrimental as the Skeldon Sugar Factory where, similarly, there was no feasibility study that ended in a waste of resources. The VP at his Thursday press conference defended the GTE project, arguing that the US EXIM Bank has confirmed the feasibility of the initiative through an independent study. He has already been challenged by the former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr.
Vincent Adams to publish copies of those studies. Loan Policy Furthermore, the Leader said he believes there is need for the development of a loan policy. He explained, “I believe as a government, you have to develop a loan policy; a policy that says the conditions under which you will take loans, what monies you will invest from oil into which areas, and that will only come if you have a plan, but this government doesn’t plan.
” To this end he committed to the development of such a policy. (Jagdeo must explain how Gas-to-Energy project is feasible with final cost still unknown- Norton).
