Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
May 15, 2011 Letters
Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to Prime Minister Sam Hinds shameful defence of Fip Motilall in his letter “Prime Minister justifies Fip’s ‘sale’ to Sithe Global” (Kaieteur News May 13).
This is a classic case of what the old people would call ‘mouth open, story jump out’, and it’s another reason why this man, along with his other incompetent colleagues, the likes of Clement Rohee, should not be part of the new PPP/C administration.
Makeshwar Fip Motilall is nothing more than a former Real Estate Broker from Florida (Licence Number: 670376) who talked the Guyana Government into giving him a licence to build the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Power Plant (AFHP).
In the Prime Minister’s own words, “Mr. Motilall and his partners have expended cash and invested lots of unpaid time in this development since he first began in 1997.” He also said, “Mr Motilall began considering and pursuing that development in 1997, applied for and was granted an MOU in early 1998.”
If PM Sam Hinds had done his homework, and did some background checks, he would have discovered that Makesh Fip Motilall is not an engineer, and neither he nor his company ‘Synergy Energy Solutions Inc. was ever involved with the construction of any power plant – diesel or hydro, anywhere in the world. He is simply an opportunist and a shrewd businessman who cleverly used his connections with the Jagdeo Administration to benefit himself, and to rip off the Guyanese taxpayers in the process. In fact, the entire tender process to award the AFHP contract can now be declared a farce, and was merely done so as not to violate with Laws of Guyana. But PM Sam Hinds already knew Motilall had it in the bag.
Synergy Energy Solutions Inc. was incorporated on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 in the State of Florida, USA, with Makeshwar Fip Motilall as their registered agent, and is listed as a ‘sister company’ to Synergy Holdings Inc.
Synergy Holdings Inc. was registered in New York as a Real Estate Appraisers. Although information on this company is very vague, the website was done in 2007.
Given the above facts, one must conclude that Fip) Motilall registered Synergy Energy Solutions Inc. 11 years after first having discussions with the Government of Guyana (GOG), and 10 years after he was given a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by PM Samuel Hinds, the same MOU that Hinds could not remember signing. Motilall then built a website for Synergy Holdings Inc. in 2007 (http://synergyholdings.net/esolutions/default.htm), again 10 years after receiving the MOU from the GOG, to include the following: “The company is currently developing the 150 MW Amaila Falls hydro project in Guyana , South America to
power the entire national grid of that country”.
The website also includes a photo gallery with lots of photos of power plants, none of which were built by Motilall or Synergy, and all without explanation as to where or when they were built, giving me the clear impression that these photos were all downloaded from the internet to impress the morons who kept extending the life of his licence.
To date, Synergy Energy Solutions Inc. still has on their website (http://www.synergyholdings.net/esolutions/default.htm) the following misleading statement: “The company is currently developing the 150 MW Amaila Falls hydro project in Guyana, South America to power the entire national grid of that country”, despite the following statement published by Sithe Global in their recent full page ad that clearly states: “Synergy Holdings Inc. is only constructing the access road portion of the Amaila Hydropower Project, which will allow Sithe Global to begin construction of the Project”. As such, I call upon the GOG and Sithe Global to demand forthwith, the removal of the false statement from Motilall’s websites which boldly declares that Motilall’s Synergy companies are the ones building the Amaila Hydro Project.
When one considers that Makeshwar Fip Motilall should not have been awarded a licence to build the Amaila Falls Project in the first place, he should not have the right to benefit from its transfer to Sithe Global. In any event, he is more than adequately compensated by being given the US$15.4 million contract to build the access road for this project that once again, he’s clearly not qualified to build.
This road is way behind schedule, and may be just the excuse Sithe Global is looking for to justify an increase in the construction cost of the AFHP, that may rival another hydropower plant being built by Sithe Global in Uganda. The Bujagali Hydropower plant is proving to be one of the most expensive in the world, and it is way behind schedule. The cost went up from the original budget of US$500M to US$860 million, and may hit the US$1 billion mark before completion in 2012.
According to some experts, the cost of hydropower construction per megawatt usually range between US$1 million and US$1.5 million, as such, the US$860M Bujagali’s Hydropower plant in Uganda, will cost at least US$3.4 million per megawatt.
Harry Gill
Dec 31, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports- In the rich tapestry of Guyanese sports, few names shine as brightly as Keevin Allicock. A prodigious talent with the rare blend of skill, charisma, and grit, Allicock...Kaieteur News- Guyana recorded just over 10,000 dengue cases in 2024, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony revealed during an... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]