While a number of contractors work to get the Amaila Falls road completed, Government is hoping that it is passable by the end of June this year to allow for China Railway First Group to commence work on the hydropower project, already delayed due to financing issues.
Speaking at the end of year press conference on Friday hosted by Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn, Government Engineer Walter Willis said that the Amaila road in its entirety is about 67 percent completed with varying rates of progress being seen on the several lots of the road project.
“We have to get the road completed before end of June 2013. It must be open to traffic for construction…” he said. He added that the crossings at Kurupukari and the Kuribrong River are also to be completed.
Willis said that the pontoons for the crossing at Kurupukari have already been constructed and are on site waiting to be properly put into service. However, he said that the Ministry is presently awaiting the go ahead from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board to proceed with the construction of a bridge across the Kuribrong River. He said that the bids have been received and tenders opened.
Willis told Stabroek News that should there be delays in the completion of the bridge across the Kuribrong River then pontoons will be used to allow the contractor for the construction of the hydro station, China Railway First Group to access the path to the site and commence their preliminary work.
When the Government wrested the contract from Synergy Holdings Inc and Fip Motilall in early 2012, it awarded contracts to a number of contractors to complete the work. At that time, the project had been 33 percent completed.
The Ministry pointed out also that there had been a two-month setback because of the blockage of the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge
This newspaper had reported that Section Two of the road was being done by the Ministry of Public Works while Sections Three and Four were being completed by Toolsie Persaud Quarries. Ivor Allen was contracted to work on Section Five of the road, G. Bovell on section six and HN Pasha on section seven. Work on lot two by the Ministry commenced in May 2012.
Work on Lot Three is 80 percent completed while for Lot Four the work is 65 percent completed, Lot Five is more than 70 percent completed; Lot Six 24 percent completed and Lot Seven 10 percent completed. He said too that the contract for Maurice Balgobin had been terminated and that another contract was cancelled for machinery repossession.
Balgobin had received a $48 million contract for rehabilitating a road at Kaburi Village. However, he failed to perform and did not finish the road after one year and as a result of this the contract was terminated.
According to Willis, the road through Kaburi Village was something that the Government had to do as part of the requirement of international stakeholders in the Amaila hydroelectric project.
In August 2012 this newspaper reported that the road should have been completed by the end of 2012, even though rain posed a challenge. It was reported that the preferred completion time was end of October 2012 but the source this newspaper spoke with said that rain caused difficulties in laying laterite and was hampering the speed at which work could be done.
Government and Motilall came in for severe criticism with the award of the contract in the early months of 2010 as persons questioned the wisdom of the decision on the basis of doubt of Motilall’s road-building experience. Government defended the process as being open and transparent and said that out of the five or so bids received, Motilall’s bid was the most favourable.
In January 2012, the Government of Guyana announced that it had terminated the US$15.4 million contract that had been awarded to Motilall for his failure to meet deadlines. Prime Minister Sam Hinds said on NCN 11 that Motilall was only paid for work that he had completed.
In March 2012, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon announced that the contract for section three of the road was valued $373.2M; section four, $246.003M; section five, $182.35M; and section six, $281.72M.
Financing from the IDB for the larger hydro project is said to be critical for the achieving of financial closure, said Sithe Global officials who were here earlier in the year. However, the IDB said that their financing is contingent on the findings of a due diligence of the project which is to be done.
“The mandate letter was signed between the IDB and Sithe, where Sithe provides a mandate to the bank to analyse the technical, environmental, social and financial aspects of the project, as input to a possible loan,” IDB Representative Sophie Makonnen told this newspaper in October. “During the course of the bank’s due diligence, IDB sector specialists will review and appraise the project from a variety of perspectives – institutional, financial, environmental, and social – including the disclosure of an Environ-mental and Social Management Report in the event that the project is brought to the IDB’s Board of Executive Directors for consideration and approval,” she said, adding that the project’s overall impact on the economy will also be a consideration.
“The size of an IDB loan – if approved – will be determined based on the study’s findings. “During the due diligence process, the optimal capital structure including the optimum size and nature of an eventual bank loan will be defined,” she said.
Budget cuts made by the combined opposition in Parliament claimed a sum of $16.4 billion under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) identified as government’s equity in the project, placing a further strain on efforts to reach financial closure.
Sithe Global said in a letter to the press that financial closure was not possible before 2013, adding that their lenders remain supportive of the project. Sithe Global said too that further delays could see this present window of locking in a fixed price being closed and increasing the possibility of the final cost of the project escalating further.
