PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced that the Guyana Government and the Russian giant aluminum company, RUSAL, have entered into a Letter of Intent (LoI) for that company to pursue the development of a hydro power plant, an alumina refinery and an aluminum smelter in Guyana.
Noting that the three projects will all have to be subjected to feasibility studies, the President told reporters that if found feasible, these projects could start, based on the Letter of Intent, before the end of 2011.
"These are projects of enormous magnitude for our country; I think since the 1950s our country has been trying to pursue this path of development of its tremendous hydro-power potential and using that hydro-power for the downstream processing of our bauxite resources."
"Now this is very exciting and I do hope that we can pursue this with the vigour that it requires," Mr. Jagdeo said at a news conference at the Presidential Secretariat in Georgetown to report mainly on his recent visit to Russia.
While there, the President met Russian President Vladimir Putin and RUSAL owner Mr. Oleg Deripaska.
Mr. Jagdeo said President Putin assured him of the Russian government's commitment to the realization of these projects in Guyana.
"I met with President Putin and we spoke about several issues and he said to me that he and his government are committed to the development of this project and the Russian company's involvement in Guyana," President Jagdeo said.
Mr. Jagdeo reported that while in Russia, he and his team had "some very extensive meetings with RUSAL and out of those meetings we managed to conclude a Letter of Intent which speaks about pursuing the development of a hydro-power plant, an alumina refinery and an aluminum smelter in Guyana."
He also indicated that RUSAL will be sending a team to Guyana by early next month to initiate work on some pre-feasibility studies, and to review and further advance the studies of the hydro-plant utilizing the Upper Mazaruni area.
RUSAL is also expected to present next month, the results of its exploration works on bauxite deposits in Linden and Ituni. In 2005, RUSAL received exploration licences for various bauxite deposits in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice).
"We hope that at the end of a particular period, that all the studies would go well and we would be able to conclude these projects," the President said.
He, however, stressed that all of these projects must comply with the laws and the environmental standards of Guyana.
RUSAL will be the largest aluminum company in the world from April 1 this year following completion of the merger among RUSAL, SUAL and Glencore.
RUSAL recently commissioned, using its internal expertise, a smelter and hydro-power plant in Siberia.
It has invested in the Berbice operations, Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCG), following President Jagdeo's last visit to Russia.
Mr. Jagdeo yesterday said that while in Russia, he used the opportunity to meet Mr. Serge Kislyak, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who is in charge of the western hemisphere, and they spoke about several issues including Russia's possible involvement in the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
Noting that China has recently joined the CDB, President Jagdeo said the region is looking to expand the range of non–borrowing members who are shareholders of the CDB.
"If we can allow that to happen, then more resources will flow into the bank, thereby providing a greater pool of resources to be lent to Caribbean countries."
"So I spoke to him (the Deputy Foreign Minister) about that particular issue, and he promised to look into it."
The President said he also met members of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and several business interests were explored.
Asked whether he discussed the issue of oil exploration here with Russian business interests, the President
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