The contractor building Guyana’s long-delayed Gas-to-Energy (GTE) power plant at Wales may be in line for another US$102 million, with the United States Embassy reportedly lobbying the Ali administration to approve the payment, according to sources cited by Kaieteur News on October 18.
The claim, which rests on unnamed sources and has not been confirmed by the government or the embassy, lands as the country’s single biggest infrastructure project runs roughly two years behind schedule and Guyana continues to pay for two rented powerships to keep the lights on.
What is being alleged
According to the report, the money would go to US-based Lindsayca to finish the two unfinished pieces of the project: the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant and the 300-megawatt power station. Both were originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2024.
Sources told the newspaper that Lindsayca senior vice president Nelson Drake met President Irfaan Ali after returning from an oil and gas summit in Caracas, where the company was reportedly listed as a platinum sponsor, and that the talks centred on a multimillion-dollar payout for cost overruns. The sources further claimed that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who directs oil and gas policy, had declined to meet Drake. None of these claims has been independently verified.
A project that keeps growing
The GTE project was first priced at US$759 million and has grown substantially since. The US Export-Import Bank approved financing in November 2024, and a US$527 million loan agreement was signed the following month.
In August, the government disclosed that the contractor had committed to deliver only 57 megawatts by December, a fraction of the 300 megawatts promised. In September, President Ali confirmed that the company was seeking additional resources but said no discussions were under way at that time.
The US Ambassador’s account
In an interview with Kaieteur News, US Ambassador Nicole Theriot acknowledged the delays, saying “obviously there are delays in this project.” She attributed them mainly to the marshy site, saying soil remediation took about 18 months and more than US$100 million. She said about 1,400 workers are on the job around the clock and that she was confident the year-end deadline would be met.
The questions for government
If the report is accurate, Guyanese are entitled to know who bears the cost of the site problems, whether the original contract allowed for such overruns, and why a project championed by the PPP/C government as the answer to high electricity costs now depends on further payments to the same contractor. The government has also yet to publish a full accounting of what the project has cost to date, including the powership rentals the delay has made necessary.
As of publication, there was no fresh public response from the Office of the President or the Ministry of Natural Resources to the October 18 report.
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