Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh described the issues now being raised by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in relation to the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project as excuses and a mere fig leaf to attempt to justify and disguise the jeopardy in which that Party has placed the project by opposing it in Parliament.
Minister Singh pointed out that, since last year March, President Donald Ramotar met with the Opposition Leader and his team, gave them a detailed presentation on the project, and invited them to go away and study the information, consult their technical advisers, and return any questions they may have.
According to Dr. Singh, to date, the APNU has not taken up the President’s invitation to ask questions.
“Instead, more than one year and several additional presentations later, they have proceeded to attempt to torpedo the project and throw up spurious reasons to justify their negative vote.”
According to the Minister, “The irrefutable fact of the matter is that Amaila is good for Guyana, the APNU refused to avail itself meaningfully of Government’s numerous efforts to consult and engage them on the project and then, for purely political reasons, they attempted to sabotage the project knowing full well the consequences of their vote on July 18 and last Thursday.”
Dr. Singh noted that should Amaila fail to materialise, APNU will have to shoulder responsibility for this and for the tremendous setback that would be inflicted on Guyana’s development prospects as a result.
However, APNU at its last press conference earlier this week stated that the government never addressed any of their issues relating to the Amaila Falls Project.
