Where is Fip the contractor and his equipment?

Jul 25, 2010 News

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US$15M Amaila Falls Road Project…

…as Jagdeo talks about signed framework

The road to the Amaila Falls that is supposed to pave the way for the construction of the Hydro Electric Plant has hit another hurdle. There is yet another delay in the arrival of the road building equipment that was supposed to have arrived in Guyana weeks before.
A source within the Ministry of Transport and Hydraulics said that the equipment may take a few more days before it arrives in Guyana. He was unable to give details of what caused the delay.
President Bharrat Jagdeo when asked about the ability of Makeshwar “Fip” Motilall of Synergy Holdings Inc. to undertake the project given the fact that there is a lack of any evidence that he has built roads anywhere, said that the company was awarded the contract based on the recommendation of the technical evaluation team.

Jagdeo explained that he has made it clear that politicians must be kept out of the process of awarding contracts adding that they (Cabinet) only give no objections to recommendations made by the technical teams following their evaluations.
He suggested that maybe at some time in the future a meeting will be held with the members of the technical team that did the evaluation and made the recommendations to find out why Motilall was the best bid.
Jagdeo said that he has seen issues against the contractor but “he has to deliver or he will face the full penalty.”
Jagdeo, during his press conference on Friday, also recalled the witnessing of signing of the framework with the China Development Bank to the tune of some $500M. This money would be outside of the equity that will be provided by Sithe Global and the US$15.4M Guyana invested in the road project.
According to Rafael Herz, the Sithe Global, Project Manager for Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, Sithe Global has already spent in excess of US$5M on the development of the project and expects to ultimately contribute over US$150M of equity.
Jagdeo explained that it is not Guyana that would be borrowing the money from the China Development Bank.
He told media operatives that all that Guyana is committing to is the Power Purchase Agreement, “the average price to be around US10.9 cents per kilowatt hour for 20 years which is significantly lower than our current cost of generation.”
He said that based on projections the price of electricity will fall about 40 per cent.
“After 20 years it is ours for free.”
He said that the rest of the money which comes in through equity from Sithe Global will have a higher rate of remuneration that is why “we set aside some of LCDS money to buy down equity and the price would come down.”
Jagdeo said that he has observed “the campaign against this hydro…I don’t pay too much attention to it”.
He said that it follows a similar campaign against the Berbice Bridge which now is paying for itself and repaying its investors.
Jagdeo said that he is adamant that the hydropower plant be built, given that it is about getting cheaper reliable electricity to homes and businesses.

Sithe Global, which is a subsidiary of Blackstone Group, is currently building one of the most controversial hydro power plants in the world namely the Bujugali Plant in Uganda, Africa.
Scrutiny of the only Hydro Electric Project that the company which was formed in 2004, namely the Bujagali Project has revealed that it is a nightmare for Uganda.
The Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project is described as part of a larger effort to revolutionise Guyana’s power generation infrastructure. The storage dam site would be located near the top of Amaila Falls and would impound the waters of both the Kuribrong and Amalia Rivers.
The Amaila site is located on the Kuribrong River, a tributary of the Potaro River in West Central Guyana. The nearest point of access is the airstrip at Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro River, approximately 15 miles to the south.
An overland trail exists from Kaieteur to Amaila. Access is also provided overland by an all-weather road through Tumatumari on the Potaro River and on to Mahdia and Kangaruma.
River access along the Potaro-Kuribrong Rivers to the foot of Amaila Falls involves several portages around rapids and waterfalls. The road from Tumatumari was recently extended to Mahdia/Kangaruma that brings you closer to the site but approximately 30 miles of additional roads will need to be built to the top of Amaila Falls.

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Guyana Watch visits Patentia, identifies heart patients

– Flu symptoms, diabetes, hypertension are the prevalent ailments

Ursulla Ramdayal

“Drink lots of water,”
“You want to send her to Best?”
“The patient needs…”
“…hyperglycaemia more than 550….”
“…high blood pressure…”
Snatches of conversation floated around me as I entered a scene of organised chaos at the Patentia Primary School yesterday. I stood still for a minute getting my bearings and realised that it was truly organised, and although it may have looked crowded and chaotic, the Guyana Watch clinic was running smoothly and efficiently.
The first area was run by local volunteers who filled up the forms as the patients came in, taking down their basic data — name, address, age and weight etc. From there the patient would move on to the pre-med volunteers who would take their complaints and symptoms and do the basic preliminary testing and vital readings before the patient sees the doctors.
There were two sets of these volunteers, those dealing with children, and the other set with adults. Then the doctors would quickly get down to business with all the preliminary work out of the way.

Being a suspicious Guyanese, I wondered how they could deal with all these patients in detail, or if the people would just be subjected to a cursory examination and given some vitamins and painkillers.
I had heard of these outreaches before, that some persons just didn’t have faith in them, simply just because they were free. And some Guyanese believe that if you get something free, it is often no good.
So the first person I spoke with was a father who was just leaving with his children.
“I just came with my children to have a check-up and to get an extraction done for one of them,” he told me. He added that he comes every year.
Now I was curious. “You must be satisfied with what is offered here if you keep coming every year,” I remarked. “Of course,” was the response. “You see, I have to travel a good distance to get these simple things done for my kids, and if the team is in the community, it is so easy to get a check up for all of them right here. I would normally have to go to Best (West Demerara) Hospital or to Georgetown and travelling with children is awkward.”
Vernice Welcome lives at Patentia and has been working with the Guyana Watch team for four years. “How did you get involved with them?” I questioned her. Vernice told me that another volunteer from the community had encouraged her to visit the team.
She is a diabetic, and the Guyana Watch medical team helped her take care of her condition.
“I came to the clinic; then I volunteered. I want to encourage others to see a doctor when they are diabetic, because very often they wouldn’t. I joined so that I could get others to come out and see the doctor by setting the example, and so far I have been successful,” said Vernice with a sense of pride. I was impressed.
The large crowd of patients seeking attention was made up of mostly people from Patentia, West Bank Demerara, I learnt, but some were from neighbouring communities and even further field.
Now I had to find out what the medical complaints were. While the medical team is prepared to administer general medical treatment, some cases cropped up that needed specialised treatment, and these were referred to hospitals where necessary.
Most complaints however, have been cold, fever and coughing from the flu season.
An observer from the Canadian Diabetic Association, T. J. Jervis noticed the number of children, but it was the adults that caught his attention, and he dropped his voice as he almost whispered, “We have people who have quite a bit more weight than they are supposed to have,”
“You mean fat people,” I whispered back. He nodded solemnly.
One overseas volunteer confirmed this. He was getting the blood pressure and blood sugar readings.
“There are a lot of highs,” he sighed. “Strictly a lot of diabetics due to their diet. One of the main health problems in the country. The lifestyle diets,” he said sadly.
Dr. Patty Vitale has been with Guyana Watch for three years and has come here twice. She is a Paediatrician and I asked her what she had found at this clinic on the West Demerara. I let her talk without interruption. I could do no less.
“A lot of children are complaining about coughing and congestion which is common in the summertime. We really don’t recommend any medicine, because a lot of them aren’t helpful and a lot of them aren’t safe. Especially if they (the children) have an underlying heart condition.
“So what we recommend is that they do salt water sprays, they can do their own salt water sprays. They take a cup of water and a teaspoon of salt and put it in a water bottle and spray it up their nose. They can do that two three times a day, and that actually prevents flu or viruses; it’s very helpful.
“And if you do have a virus, it helps keep you nose moist, so that you don’t get bloody nose, or so it doesn’t get dry. This can be done for all age groups, from infancy to old age. There’s been good research to show that this is a good medicine, it works and is an excellent method to use. Nothing can cure a cold except time.
“Unless it’s something more serious, if it doesn’t go away after five to seven days you should seek medical help to see if maybe there is some other infection. Mostly kids we see here today have the virus, but the virus goes away on its own, but to help with the symptoms, we recommend the salt water washes in the nose.”
“Most of the kids have rashes, because the weather here is so damp, so much humidity, a lot of them have fungal infection of the skin. Very common and very difficult to treat, and we treat them with topical creams that we put on the skin twice a day with the creams we call Lotromin and Nistatin. It will help but they will probably come back, the good news is that it’s not life threatening, and the bad news is that it’s an annoyance,”
So now let’s find the person responsible for the team being here. Tony Yassin. He says that the target number of patients is 3500, visiting six locations and about 14 orphanages.
Fourteen doctors, twenty-five support staff from overseas, and about a dozen volunteers at each and every clinic site.
Now I am getting nervous again. “Do you have enough medication for all these people? Tony is quick to reassure me. Medication does not run out, not generally. I get tense. He hurriedly explains. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have, but sometimes the estimate is below what is actually needed.”

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