Norway withholds climate aid to Guyana ‘until legitimate gov’t in place’

TIMES INT'L

Norway has put the brakes on the release of NOK 393 million (US$36.2M) climate aid to Guyana in light of the current political situation following the March 2, General and Regional Elections.
Development Today, an independent online journal specialising in political, business and environmental issues, reported that the Climate Ministry in Oslo made this statement on Friday.
““No further decisions will be made on…planning or spending” of this money until a legitimate government is in place,” Development Today reported.
In December 2019, Government had announced that the remaining payments under the Guyana Norway Agreement to the tune of Gy$9.1 billion (US$50 million) had been released, but Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had tempered expectations by pointing out that Guyana will not have access to this money until after the General and Regional Elections.
Those elections were held on March 2, 2020 but the results have been marred by discredited results in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
Guyana had, in 2009, signed with Norway a historic forest protection accord which saw the country receiving payments for sustaining its rainforests to absorb global carbon emissions. A total of US$250 million were to be paid to Guyana over a five-year period.
Some US$200 million has already been paid over, and the final tranche was released in December 2019. Jagdeo, a former Head of State had led the project under the ‘Low Carbon Development Strategy’ (LCDS).
Of the US$200 million already paid to Guyana, US$80 million has been injected to fund a 100-megawatt solar energy project. That money was initially earmarked for the Amaila Falls Hydro (AFH) Project.
The Amaila Falls Hydro Project was the flagship of the PPP’s Low Carbon Development Strategy. The project was expected to deliver electricity to Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, and its second-largest town, Linden, by an electric transmission line.
It would have assisted Guyana Power and Light to get adequate electricity supply, thus providing cheaper and more reliable power to citizens and businesses. However, the then Opposition (APNU/AFC), who had controlled the National Assembly by a one-seat majority, scrapped the project.

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