Financial closure pushed back to 2013Financial closure on the government’s US$840 Amaila Falls Hydro Project has been delayed by several months, the developer Sithe Global yesterday said.It was anticipated that the project, which was touted to become the country’s largest infrastructure development in its history,Cheap Baseball Jerseys, would have been approved by lenders to enable a financial close by this summer.An artist impression of the Amaila Falls Hydro Falls Hydro Project.“While that timing has slipped,Cheap China Jerseys, our lenders remain supportive of the project. We have worked closely with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to address its concern about Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) technical and financial capacity,” Sithe Global said yesterday in a release by local public relations consultant, Cathy Hughes.The company said that it is likely that financial closure may be by March 2013.“Based on our discussions with IDB, we are hopeful that the project will be cleared to start final due diligence and documentation in July.? The project’s financial close should occur some eight months thereafter.? This delay is a disappointment to us, but we recognize that transformational projects of this nature require careful advance planning to ensure successful implementation,” the statement said.Sithe Global has established a local company, Amaila Falls Hydro Inc. (AFH), to handle the project in Guyana. According to the US-based company,cheap jerseys, during meetings in Guyana earlier this year, Sithe Global officials had offered a detailed look into the project costs, timelines and issues leading up to the financial closure of the project.The company warned of cost increases.“One risk of delay is that the project’s construction contract price could increase. Such increases could result from changes in foreign currency exchange rates or other factors. While previous currency adjustments resulted in substantial cost increases, the US Dollar to Chinese Yuan Renminbi foreign exchange rates have not moved significantly in the first half of 2012.”However, Sithe Global said, it is impossible to predict future changes in currency rates or other factors.“…meaning that the risk of price increases remains a serious concern until financial closing is achieved. We continue to work diligently to maintain the current construction pricing structure and maintain the viability of the project amidst the delays in securing the project debt from our lenders.”Sithe Global insisted that the project remains fundamentally strong because it is the lowest cost option for GPL and its ratepayers.“It continues to represent the best low-cost, long-term option to reduce GPL’s average generation costs and dependency on imported fossil fuels. Furthermore, it entails significant improvement of the electricity infrastructure in Guyana that will support Guyana’s overall economic growth and sustainable development,China Jerseys NFL, based on a clean,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, reliable and affordable electricity supply for its industries, businesses and residents.”The project has been marred by concerns over the high costs which started from US$600M and has risen to over US$800M without a stone being laid or a screw turned.It was also hampered by the scandalous US$15.4M road project contract awarded under controversial circumstances to Makeshwar “Fip” Motilall. The contract was terminated earlier this year because of the absence of a performance bond.The Amaila Hydropower Project, (approximately 165MW capacity),Cheap Jerseys Wholesale, to be located in western Guyana, in Region Eight is to include a new 270 km transmission line and new substations leading to Georgetown. Currently, nearly all electric generation in Guyana is provided through small units burning either diesel or heavy fuel oil. A significant portion of the country’s foreign exchange is spent on importing fossil fuel.

–? No funds at this timeBy Rustom SeegopaulFollowing the reports by residents of La Harmonie, West Bank Demerara,Cheap NHL Jerseys Online, about the sad state of the roads,jerseys nfl wholesale, paths and the La Harmonie Primary School compound, and a visit by Kaieteur News and the subsequent publication of the findings, Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Region Three, Julius Faerber, explained that contrary to popular belief La Harmonie and other areas which are so isolated do not fall under the jurisdiction of a Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).The grass in the schoolyard is so tall that the institution is almost hidden.According to the Chairman, in the case of La Harmonie, the RDC is responsible.Commenting about the La Harmonie Primary School,Cheap Football Jerseys, Faerber said that since the school was in such a remote area, the RDC had asked the head teacher of the school to take charge and to secure someone to ensure that the compound was kept in order.Schoolchildren are made to walk for approximately one hour through a muddy trail to reach their school. Just days ago a puma,Wholesale China Jerseys, measuring some five feet long,Cheap Jerseys NFL China, was found, dead, on the same trail which the schoolchildren traverse on a daily basis.The La Harmonie Primary School yard is completely overgrown with tall grass,NFL Jerseys From China, to an extent that the school building is almost invisible from outside the compound.Parents told Kaieteur News that the schoolchildren are sometimes made to cut the grass immediately surrounding the school.It was reported that a man is paid to maintain the school compound but he does not as he is constantly engaged in work in the hinterland region of Guyana.The Chairman said that the RDC would launch an investigation into the matter. He, at the same time, urged residents of the area to contact the RDC if there were wrongs taking place within the community.Speaking about the muddy trails, Faerber said that the RDC had budgeted for the bulldozing and upkeep of the trails but said that funds had not been allocated for this. Hopefully, he said, next year, capital would be allocated by the Central Ministry, for the renovation of the trails.

Two days before Christmas, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) picketed the Ministry of Finance to up its demands for a waiver of income tax on a recently awarded three per cent retroactive pay.Sugar workers are expected to receive the payout today retroactive to January 1, 2009.GAWU, on Monday, wrote Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, asking that he considers waiving the income tax on the retroactive pay.Yesterday’s exercise was one of the many that the union has been staging since an arbitration tribunal “recommended” a three per cent increase for workers earlier this month.GAWU is arguing that taxing the pay will effectively send sugar workers home with only two per cent.The unions President,NFL Jerseys From China, Komal Chand, yesterday told media houses that there has been no reply from the Minister on the decision.“We are carrying through this exercise today because it is part of our struggles for the rights and livelihood of workers. The struggle will continue.”The union representatives, carrying placards, also accused the Minister of lying to the public when he said that government in the Skeldon sugar factory invested a total of US$113.1 million.According to a placard, the US$113 is a loan. So how could government have invested that?Similarly, a US$12M funding for the establishment of a sugar packaging plant represented monies from the European Union as part of the programme to assist Guyana following a phased sugar price cuts in that region.GAWU,Jerseys China Wholesale, in the letter on Monday to Dr Singh, requested the Ministry’s “consideration to waive the Income Tax on the retroactive payment of three (3) per cent from 1st January, 2009?arising from the Gobind Ganga Arbitral Tribunal recommendation.”GAWU, in arguing the case for the tax waiver, said that similar deserving steps were taken in the past when public servants received a special $4,Cheap NFL Jerseys,000 allowance awarded to them last year.The letter, written by GAWU’s General Secretary, Seepaul Narine, was also copied to Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, and GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer,NFL Jerseys China, Errol Hanoman.President of GAWU, Komal Chand,NFL Jerseys From China, on Tuesday explained that taxing the “measly” three per cent was already small and to further tax it effectively would be placing only two per cent in the hands of workers.In October, wage talks between GuySuCo and GAWU broke down after the Corporation refused to budge from a three per cent offer. GAWU had demanded 15 per cent but came down to 10 per cent.Conciliation talks went nowhere and Government stepped in last month and ordered a compulsory arbitration.A three-person Tribunal headed by Bank of Guyana’s Dr. Gobind Ganga earlier this month “recommended” a three per cent increase.GuySuCo was given until March next year to give workers the retroactive pay, which becomes effective January 1, 2009.After GuySuCo promised to start paying the increase effective January1, 2010, GAWU had picketed the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Guyana and several sugar estates to pressure for payments before Christmas.Last week,Cheap Jerseys From China, the cash-strapped Corporation said that it had worked out a deal and had rearranged payments to creditors and will be paying workers their retroactive increase by this week.