Four months after being given the go ahead to start the first phase of the Amaila Falls road project, Synergy Holdings Inc is behind schedule having completed just over 10 per cent of the work to date.
When contacted, Senior Government Engineer Walter Willis told Stabroek News that the project was a bit behind schedule but said it should be taken into consideration that the work only started in October. He said the contractor has eight months to complete the work.
On October 5, the construction notice to proceed was issued to Synergy Holdings Inc, paving the way for it to start Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the project. The US$15.4 million contract awarded to Synergy is for “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.
Meanwhile, Willis told Stabroek News that on January 11, Synergy Holdings Inc was given the construction notice to proceed for Sections 6 and 7, which includes the parts of the project involving virgin forests. Given the late issuance of this notice, the company may be given back its “waiting time” this newspaper was told.
Back in October, President of Synergy Holdings Inc Fip Motilall, during an interview with public relations executive Cathy Hughes, said that completing the road in eight months would have been a daunting task but insisted that it was possible. He said that from his assessment he would have given a project timeline of 16 to 20 months. “We have committed to do it in eight months because that is what the project calls for. It can be done but it needs to be done in a very coordinated way,” Motilall said. He stated that Synergy will be trying to cut time by having three teams working on different parts of the project together.
Significantly, Canadian consultants Kaehne Consulting Ltd, the company which reviewed the project’s original feasibility study, estimated that a road of 41 km in length needed to be constructed to facilitate the hydropower plant and that this would take 12 months. This review was done in 2002.
The administration, however, subsequently tasked Synergy Holdings Inc with completing almost three times the original estimated length of road in two-thirds of the time originally recommended. This is in addition to the construction of the pontoon crossings and the upgrading of the 85 km roadway. The government has said that there will be significant penalties if Synergy fails to meet the deadline.
The Amaila Roads project was slated to start in July last year but was first hindered by the late arrival of the company’s equipment, which eventually arrived in August. The start of the project was further delayed since environmental assessments on the project site were still not completed.
Synergy Holdings Inc came under intense scrutiny following the award of the contract, with questions being asked about the company’s road building experience. Motilall has said that his company has over seven years of road building experience in Florida and Georgia, adding that these roads were built in very difficult terrain.
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, during his recent budget speech, said that financial closure for the project is expected by the second quarter of this year so that work on the hydropower plant could start late this year. The US$650 million project is being funded by equity contributed by Sithe Global, equity from the government under the Low Carbon Development Strategy, and debt financing.
