In response to questions from journalist Neil Marks on News Room’s Insider, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo said the fact that a person does not know about the feasibility studies does not mean that they do not exist. My response is, “Well, sir, please show them to us. And by this we mean a proper feasibility study considering all the alternatives, including solar power, not just selected alternatives.” Jagdeo said, “A person who doesn’t have a modicum of interest or even knowledge about a particular sector, technical knowledge, can get up one day and challenge the engineer and say, ‘this is not good’, and then he gets traction. And then suddenly, a petition comes about (to) stop the project.” I am not such a person. I am a qualified and practicing Guyanese energy technologist living and working in Guyana. Can you explain why my letters are not published by our so-called national newspapers, the Guyana Chronicle? And why the Guyana Times, which claims to be independent and objective, only published letters from my Organisation and me during the 5-month elections fiasco? Is it that my government does not want to hear me?
The Department of Public Information (DPI) transcribes Jagdeo further. “The basic numbers are, if you’re generating using Bunker C at 14 cents per KWH now, and we can bring in the pipeline and the gas, we can build the pipeline, bring in the gas, build the power plant and pay back for those, and still generate power at 6 to 7 cents per KWH. Then, we are saving 50 per cent of the generating cost.” With respect to the Hon. Vice-President, I have only seen assertions of these figures, not a proper costing to explain their origin. He said those numbers are ‘substantiated globally’, and that any person who examines them would see that the project is a ‘no-brainer’. This is not good enough. We have the expenses of a pipeline, the refining of the gas, the power plant, and the resource is finite. There are some of us that will not allow the coming generations to be saddled with such a debt without genuine financial justification.
There is much more to it than I can write here, so we must rely on Jagdeo’s last statement in the DPI release (https://dpi.gov.gy/criticisms-against-feasibility-of-gas-to-energy-project-unfair-vice-president/): “We live in a free country and we encourage public participation in debate on big projects.” I am a knowledgeable person. Let me debate the government’s advisors.
Sincerely,
Alfred Bhulai
