Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), David Patterson’s motion to put a hold on the government’s gas to energy project and send it to a special select committee, has been voted down in Parliament. The vote took place in the early hours of the morning, today (Tuesday 25 January 2022).
Seizing the opportunity to restate the project’s purported benefits to Guyana, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat has once again reaffirmed that the US$900 million gas-to-energy project will reportedly cut energy costs by a whopping 50%.
In further expounding his position, the Minister noted that the project will not only help to revolutionize Guyana’s energy mix but will also be transformational for the Guyanese people. He stated that, “this project is probably the most critical, most transformational project that we will witness in the history of this country. Every Guyanese will benefit, cost of living will be reduced and improve the standard of living. We cannot stall such an important and critical project”.
Minister Bharrat went on the challenge the assertions contained in the Opposition’s motion and stated that it “sounds like a lot of questions that could have been asked different and a lot of wild assertions. It sounds as though there was a plan to misrepresent the truth. The coalition’s aim is to slow down the gas-to-energy project, the Corentyne River Bridge, the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, new highways, the energy mix development of hydro and solar, modern and international healthcare and education services, as well as the distribution of house lots to people who need them.”
The Minister went further to say that the project is a key component of the government’s development agenda and noted that, “we as a country need to move forward with development and our developmental agenda and we want to say to the coalition that if you are serious about development and you want to get onboard on the development train, then our arms are open.”
As it stands, the government is steaming ahead with the controversial project and has already received bids for the pre-qualification for the gas-to-energy project under the natural gas fired power plant and natural gas liquids (NGL) plant.
Accordingly, the gas-to-energy project is expected to come on stream by late 2024 and purports to reduce Guyana’s energy sector emissions whilst making it easier to do business in Guyana as many operational costs are expected to be reduced.
