President of Synergy Holdings Inc. Fip Motilall has only been paid for the work he has completed so far on the Amaila Falls access road project, senior government engineer Walter Willis has said.
Contacted by Stabroek News, Willis said that the arrangement was that the contractor would be paid promptly as he completes sections of the project. According to him, every time the contractor submits a certificate, the amount outlined in that document is then measured by the supervising team. Once the measurement is determined to be correct, provisions are made for payments to take place. Willis, however, was not in a position to say exactly how much Motilall has been paid to date. He stressed though that it would represent about 22 percent of the total contract work. “We can’t pay him for what he hasn’t done,” Willis said. The contract is valued at $15.4 million.
Last month, Motilall told reporters that so far he has only been paid for the work he has completed. “Government has not been funding this project. As I get done, I submit an invoice, Ministry of Public Works approves it, [and it] goes to the Ministry of Finance. I get paid,” he said.
Recently, Willis had disclosed to this newspaper that at the end of March, the Amaila Falls access road project was only about 22 per cent complete. About 60 percent of the project time had already elapsed. According to him, the government had advised Motilall to subcontract some of the work as well as to increase his labour force on the site. He said Synergy Holdings has started only one of the 15 timber bridges that it has been contracted to do. This bridge is only about 18 per cent complete.
There was much controversy when Synergy Holdings Inc was awarded the contract for the building of the access roads. Questions were raised about the company’s road building experience. Motilall had said that he had built roads in the Georgia and Florida. During an interview with public relations executive Cathy Hughes, Motilall said the contract was a daunting task but committed to completing it on time. He said that ideally he would have liked to be given a timeline for the project of about 16 to 20 months.
The contract awarded to Synergy was 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.
Completion of the access road project in a timely manner is seen as key to ensuring financial closure for the funding of the Amaila Falls hydropower plant. Construction of the plant is scheduled to start later this year, the project developer Sithe Global LLC has said.
