The first phase of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project (AFHEP) may finally get underway with the expected arrival of the last batch of equipment this weekend.
Work was expected to commence since July but the timetable was affected by the late arrival of the equipment and the absence of a full workforce, this newspaper was told. Stabroek News understands a concerted effort is now being made to kick-start the project as soon as possible.
The US$15.4 million contract for the first phase was awarded to Synergy Holdings, which has been met with serious questions about its road building experience. President Bharrat Jagdeo recently said Synergy was awarded the contract after an assessment by a technical team and he indicated a willingness to have the technical evaluators share information regarding how the firm won the contract.
Jagdeo also told reporters they could contact Walter Willis for information on the contract. When this newspaper subsequently contacted Willis, he said that while reporters have approached him for information based on a reported instruction from the President, he had not gotten any instruction from the President.
He indicated a willingness to speak once this was communicated to him. Willis, however, told Stabroek News to contact him again on Saturday. When asked what was happening on Saturday, Willis laughed and said “you will see.”
Meanwhile, attempts yesterday to speak with the President of Synergy Holdings Fip Motilall were unsuccessful. When this newspaper visited the company’s John Smith Street office, the receptionist said he was in a meeting.
Motilall has kept himself under the radar recently. His last comment on the contract was in April, when he staunchly defended his firm’s involvement in the project. He noted that it would be collaborating with an experienced hydro-engineering firm to ensure the success of the project, which will immediately see power costs dropping by more than 50%.
While Motilall did not, however, address concerns about his road building experience, Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Ltd (NICIL) Winston Brassington has stated that Synergy has significant road building experience in the US states of Georgia and Florida.
No evidence of this has yet been provided and there are suggestions that Synergy will be sub-contracting the road building and that labourers from China will be involved in the project.
The contract awarded to Synergy is for the “the upgrading of approximately 85 km of existing roadway, the design and construction of approximately 110 km of virgin roadway, the design and construction of two new pontoon crossings at the Essequibo and Kuribrong rivers.” The fourth part of the project is for the clearing of a pathway alongside the roadways to allow for the installation of approximately 65 km of transmission lines.
