Dear Editor,
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh told the National Assembly on July 15, 2010 that a framework deal for financing of the Amaila Falls hydropower project was signed in Shanghai, China. The Minister also stated that in 2010 and 2011, between US$40M and US$60M will be invested as equity in the Amaila Falls hydropower project. After securing a decent deal from Norway under the LCDS, this government is hell bent on wasting it.

As proven in the past by myself and other writers, the Amaila project is a burden and cost inefficient project and for the government to take money from the LCDS and give it to the Amaila project and by extension to Fip Motilall’s Synergy is nothing but mismanagement and waste of hard-earned revenue. Synergy has never proven its capacity and capability to secure the US15.4 million it got from the government. And it will likely get more. So far, the government has given just over 6% of the US250 million total the country will get from the LCDS to a business with questionable experience for Amaila.

If the plan is to use the LCDS funds to build Amaila, the nation might as well scrap the LCDS because it is transferring money from a decent venture to an indecent venture reeking with the indecency of inefficiency, hyper-cost and waste. The very first major contract for Amaila to Synergy is swimming in questionable conduct. I am still waiting for the government to produce evidence of Synergy’s road building experience. Synergy is already behind schedule and because it never built roads or bridges and it never had heavy duty equipment, it will get on schedule months after the planned start date. Delays are costing the nation in interest on borrowed money every day. It will also lead to massive cost overruns when seasonal changes, etc start impacting the project. So that contract to Synergy is not just a US15.4 million boondoggle, it is a lot more and growing every day. The government will have given Synergy a contract for at least US$30 million by the time its inexperience and incapacity runs its course. For heaven’s sake, when would this government learn to save and learn to think.

Yours faithfully,
Michael Maxwell