-Benn declines comment on Synergy experience
Construction of the controversial Amaila Falls access road is unlikely to get underway before next month as part of the proposed road design is being reviewed while the Environmental Construction Permit is yet to be issued.
However, when the project does commence, the workers attached to Synergy Holdings Inc. will be supervised by consulting firm SRKN’gineering with assistance from Walter Willis and Patrick Thompson from the Public Works Ministry, who will be directly overlooking the project. Work on the access road was scheduled to begin since last month, but was set back by the non-arrival of equipment belonging to Synergy Holdings Inc., the company awarded the US$15.4 million for the project. The barge carrying the equipment finally arrived in the country on Sunday.
Transport and Hydraulic Minister Robeson Benn and Willis yesterday held a press conference in Linden to provide information on the project following the arrival of the equipment. During the media briefing, Willis said that following ground seeking exercises and surveys, proposed revisions were made to the design, which are now being reviewed. “As you know we gave them the notice to proceed on the 15th of April, meaning they should start their ground seeking exercise and their survey in order to provide us with details of the design. This has gone through two revisions… the last submission was on the 6th of August which we consider to be their final submission and that now is being reviewed,” he said.
Willis said too that there is a team surveying the area from Butakari to Kaburi. The team will then survey from Kaburi to a distance along the Bartica/Potaro road. He explained that this team is there to verify the details provided by the contractor in terms of the surveys, elevations and distances. Willis said that there is a time frame of four weeks to respond to this submission.
Meanwhile, Willis said that even if the technical details for the civil works were ready, the required permission from the environmental bodies is still outstanding. “Even if the construction notice to proceed in terms of the technical details for the civil works are ready, we still have to wait for the final word by way of the granting [of the] Environmental Construction permit by the relevant authorities-the EPA and others.” Willis explained that all the necessary field work had been completed and that the report is now being put together and is expected to be submitted shortly.”Once that report has been submitted we would be given a comfort level,” he said adding that “it would take about three weeks” for the report to be reviewed.
Minister Benn, meantime, refuted suggestions that there was any secrecy about the project. “There is no secrecy with this project that I am aware of. Mr. (Fip) Motilall could speak for himself with regard to what you term secrecy, the specific thing which the Ministry and the government were responsible for, we give that information out. So I want to reject from the side of the government any suggestion that there was secrecy,” Benn said.
The Minister, however, refused to provide evidence of Synergy’s road building experience in Georgia and Florida, as NICIL Head Winston Brassington had stated. “I don’t have to provide any evidence to you. You go seeking the evidence I don’t have to provide you with any evidence of what the company has done or where or what,” Benn said in response to a question. “I am telling you that the public process went forward, the companies which put in their bids were shortlisted and a choice was made with regards to the best suited company in terms of price and other issues for the project and that’s what we have, “ Benn added.
Earlier this week, a reliable source told this newspaper that Synergy won the contract after presenting evidence to the technical evaluators that persons with the expertise to complete the work would be hired.
Asked about the Chinese workers rumoured to have been brought in for the road, Benn said he was unaware about such an arrangement. “Chinese!
I don’t know anything about any Chinese; we are dealing with the road.” President Bharrat Jagdeo, during his most recent press conference had mentioned the possibility of Chinese nationals working on constructing the road.
“There may be Chinese workers and there will probably be Guyanese workers too. They may be from both sides,” he said. He made this comment weeks after a framework agreement had been signed in China formalizing the cooperation between the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated, Sithe Global, Amaila Holdings Limited, the China Development Bank, and the China Railway First Group Company Limited.
Meantime, the equipment shipped by Synergy Holdings Inc. includes “three front end loaders”, “four excavators”, “four dump trucks”, “two CR bulldozers” and “one scraper”. Benn said that there are two other pieces of equipment-front end loaders-which arrived on a previous shipment. These pieces of equipment will be used primarily for clearing and sub grade preparation of the road. The minister however, was unable to say whether this was the full complement of required equipment. According to him, there is a basic listing of equipment but this could change based on conditions encountered.
The pieces of equipment will now be subject to scrutiny from the mechanical engineers at the Public Works Ministry to determine whether the equipment is in the condition to do the work it is required to do. This process is expected to begin today, Willis said.
The first phase of the project includes “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.
The road will start from the Wisroc junction and proceed 26 miles along the Linden/Mabura road before turning off at Butakari in the Essequibo. From there, it will go by the village of Kaburi and will follow the trail up the hydroplant.
