-Motilall tells PR executive
President of Synergy Holdings Fip Motilall says his company is “most qualified” to build the Amaila access road because it has over seven years of road building experience along with intimate knowledge of the terrain at the project site.
Motilall made this disclosure during an interview with public relations executive Cathy Hughes. A recording of the interview was sent to Stabroek News on Saturday. Motilall has been unavailable to Stabroek News and other media houses for interviews. This was the first time Motilall has commented publicly on the project since April, despite intense scrutiny regarding the road building capacity of his company.
“Unlike what most people would like to believe. I think we’re the most qualified from the standpoint that we know the terrain, I believe better than anybody on this. I’ve been working on the hydro project for over 12 years, so I’ve traversed this area quite a bit, both myself and my team,” he said when asked about the award of the controversial US$15.4 million road building contract to his company.
He said too that his company had chosen to keep the cost of the project at a minimum, even foregoing the attractiveness of making a profit on the project, since it was committed to the hydropower plant.
He said that his company has significant road building experience in Florida and Georgia in private developments. “We’ve been building roads for 7 years now in Florida and Georgia,” he said. He said that his company had developed Timberland Estates which is 500 acres with about 13 miles of roads, and Cabbage Woods Ranges in Central Florida where it built 9 miles of roads.
“What we are building here is no different than that. It’s just a little bit larger in size. It’s just one road versus multiple sections,” he said. According to him, the roads that his company built in Florida involved clearing virgin forests similar to this project.
Motilall said that a team of ‘in house’ experts from Florida (whom he named) will be in charge of constructing the road, while local operators, surveyors, and other workers will be hired. He said that the road project should begin within the next 3 to 4 weeks after the company is granted its construction notice to proceed. He said that in April, the company was given “notice to proceed” which allowed it to do some surveying work and to finalize some designs.
Asked about the ability to complete the road within the stipulated eight months, Motilall said that it was a daunting task but one which could be done.
He said that he would have given a timeline for the project 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”. He said that the team will be trying to cut time by having three teams working on different parts of the projects together.
This would be a clearing team, a grubbing team and a group of persons doing the burning and other aspects of the project.
Questioned as to why he did not seek to defend his company earlier, Motilall said that he did not respond publicly because he felt betrayed adding that he remains confident that he will be justified when the project is completed. “I felt a little betrayed by the Guyanese. I felt that I put a lot of time and personal effort into it to develop a project that will make Guyana a better place,” he said. “I chose not to respond because it was a lot of this… he says, you say, dem boys seh and we don’t really want to get into that,” he added. He believes that Guyanese will see him differently when a quality road is built on time and when the hydro is completed.
Regarding the construction of the hydropower plant, Motilall said that Sithe Global is the developer for the plant. He said that the project went out for bidding about a year and a half ago and that six bids were submitted. One of these was later disqualified leaving bidders from India, China, Italy, Brazil and Mexico. The contractor for the project will be working for Sithe Global, which will be overseeing the project.
This contractor will also be responsible for the construction of the transmission line.
Financing for the plant is the responsibility of Sithe Global and he said this will be sought through loans. He said should there be any defaulting on the loan, the Government of Guyana will not bear any financial responsibility. He said too that if electricity does not reach Georgetown, Guyana Power and Light (GP&L) will not have to pay any money.
The 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.
President Bharrat Jagdeo announced at the GuyExpo opening on Thursday that with the payment of US$30 million by Norway into the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) expected shortly, the Amaila Falls project can begin.
“The first payment enables us to get started with removing our entire economy from fossil fuel dependence…and will form part of the government’s investment in the hydroelectricity plant at the Amaila Falls,” he said. Jagdeo said that “the work to ensure that Amaila is built in a way that adheres to internationally recognized financial, social and environment standards is now well underway, in parallel with detailed financial and engineering work that will lead to the project’s construction.” “Once we are assured that the environmental and social impacts are taken care of, government will authorize the contractor of the access road to commence construction,” he added.
