Norway-Guyana forest aid slated for investment in hydro dam

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The government of Guyana plans to spend most of the Norwegian forest climate aid it will receive during 2010-11 on the Amaila Falls hydropower project, a dam to be built deep in the Amazon rainforest.

Norwegian officials insist this is not a done deal. But President Bharrat Jagdeo has staked much personal prestige in Amaila, a decades-old project that has eluded successive Guyanase governments.

Meanwhile, environmental impact expert Robert Goodland warns that Amaila could be the first stage in a much larger hydropower and aluminum production complex.