China Railway First Group took in surveyors to commence preparatory work on section 7 of the beleaguered Amaila Falls hydro project road over the weekend and it appears that the total cost of the project will exceed its original figure and it may not be completed before next year.
The contract awarding the section of the road works to China Railway was signed on April 19, 2013 and it is in the neighbourhood of US$8 million. Along with the US$8 million, observers say, other significant amounts would have been paid to the original contractor Fip Motilall and a series of others who were taken on to finish his work.
This, they say, would mean that the total cost would exceed the US$15.4 million awarded to Motilall for completion of all the work.
This section of the road was wrested from contractor HN Pasha, who for various reasons, failed to complete the execution of an earlier awarded contract.
“They have their surveyors in the country,” a source said last week. “They are going in this weekend to start the initial survey work,” the source told this newspaper.
After this survey work would have started, it is expected that China Railway would bring in road building equipment to commence heavy construction on section 7. While the entire length of the road is over 200 kilometres, section 7 is 49.5 kilometres long.
A representative of HN Pasha told this newspaper that when the company tendered for the job, the circumstances on the ground were unknown. “We did not get to go to the site. There was a lot of forest and swamp,” said the representative.
The representative of HN Pasha said the firm would prefer to hold off on making a proper statement since it could possibly be involved eventually in the completion of section 7 in collaboration with China Railway.
Minister of Works Robeson Benn had dismissed the reason for the non-completion of the works by HN Pasha thus, “from our side there was no extraordinary reason for the delay.” He said that contrary to what this newspaper was told, HN Pasha did make a site visit prior to tendering for the works on section 7.
Speaking in Parliament recently, Benn said section 7 of the road might not be completed before the end of the year. Section 6 was being done by G. Bovell but his contract was terminated and two other contractors – Ivor Allen and Toolsie Persaud Limited – were given contracts to complete this section.
According to Benn, sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 are in significant stages of completion. However, he said, the two difficult sections are 2 and 7. He said both of these sections constituted swamp and creeks, making execution difficult. He said that while section 7 could be done by year-end, the other sections may go over into next year.
Benn said China Railway was free to sub-contract to HN Pasha but this was something that must be worked out between the two of them.
Dynamic Engineering had been awarded a contract to design and build the bridge across the Kuribrong River.
A source at the Ministry of Works said all of the works have to be finished by the end of the year so that the road would be able to accommodate the passage of equipment and material for the construction of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectricity project.
The source said completion by year end was possible if persons put their “backs” into it and the weather holds.
In 2010, Synergy was awarded a contract to upgrade 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 deadline for the completion of the project was September 2011.
Synergy got the contract despite not being able to sufficiently demonstrate road construction abilities. The tenure was plagued with delays from the beginning leading to government’s termination of the contract on January 12, 2012.
Section 2 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 awarded a contract to work on section five of the road;, G Bovell had been awarded section six and HN Pasha section seven.
Despite the severe criticism meted out to government and Synergy’s principal Fip Motilall following the award of the contract in the early months of 2010, government had defended the process as being transparent. It had said that out of the five or so bids received, Motilall’s was the most favourable.
In January 2012, government 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 national television that Motilall was paid only for work he had completed. Efforts to ascertain exactly how much of the original sum has been spent proved futile.
Experts believe that without the completion of section seven of the road and the bridge across the Kuribrong River, it will be nigh impossible to get the required materials into the Amaila Falls project site for the commencement of the dam construction and other infrastructure works.
