Canadian company was dropped from contract for InterEnergy

Last Updated on Monday, 4 August 2025, 17:44 by Writer

Although Prime Minister Mark Phillips had almost three months ago stated that a US$7 million contract had been “allocated” to the Canada-based Method4 Engineering to supervise the over US$400 million expansion of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) grid, the power company’s chief on Sunday said no deal was signed with that company.

In response to opposition parliamentarian Volda Lawrence’s question in the National Assembly on May 23, 2025, Mr Phillips had said that “the name of the company that was allocated the consultancy contract is Method4; Method4, that is name of the company; it is a Canadian company – Method4.”

The Prime Minister had told the National Assembly that the cost of hiring Method4 would have been US$7 million but the Tender Evaluation document published by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) states that the bid amount was US$9,792,500.

GPL Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall said, while the invitation to bid was advertised, “we did not complete the process”. He said GPL had questions about the bidders experience, resulting in a decision not to award a contract. Mr Nandlall said, at the same time, the government had been in talks with InterEnergy Group and eventually opted to go ahead with that company. “Simultaneously, we were engaging InterEnergy to do supervisory consulting work and then we decided that, with their experience, they have the technical experience to do it,” he said.

However, Mr Nandlall reiterated on Sunday that no contract was signed with Method4 for a project management consultancy and owner’s engineering services for the construction and integration of substation, transmission and distribution lines and supply of specialized distribution and hotline maintenance equipment. He also said no contract was inked with the Dominican Republic InterEnergy Group as negotiations were underway. “No contract was awarded to anybody,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

The Indian firm, Kalpataru, and Power China had been awarded the over US$400 million contract to run 300 kilometres of 230 kV and 69 kV transmission lines that would receive and distribute electricity from the 300 megawatt natural gas-fired plant at Wales, construct several substations and other related works.

On July 17, 2025 cabinet granted its no-objection to NPTAB’s recommendation that the contract be awarded to InterEnergy Group at a fee of US$650,000 per month. InterEnergy, officials said, could be working in Guyana for at least two years.

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) vice presidential candidate, Ganesh Mahipaul on Sunday questioned Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s vigorous defence of InterEnergy Group. “This contradiction strikes at the very heart of truth and transparency,” he said. “It is your tax dollars, it is our oil revenues, and it is the future of this country’s energy security. When billions are being spent, and the Government can’t even get its story straight, alarm bells must ring,” said Mr Mahipaul, also a parliamentarian.

Mr Jagdeo last Thursday, told a news conference that there were several proposals from different groups, but InterEnergy “was the most cost-effective one.”

The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader has so far visited Guyana thrice.

InterEnergy Group, a private company that has worked in several other Latin American and Caribbean countries, signed a memorandum of understanding with GPL in 2024.