The media, the government, Synergy Holdings and Sithe Global

May 15, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column

---

By Adam Harris

For more than four decades Guyana has been toying with producing hydroelectric power. In fact, Guyana’s move toward hydroelectric goes back much further. It goes back to the days when BG Consolidated recognised the benefits to be had.
The company was mining gold and it was using large equipment that needed to be powered. In its wisdom, it tapped into the Potaro River at Tumatumari and established the hydroelectric plant that was recently put back into operation.
Long after BG Consolidated left, the hydro plant kept working. It provided power for the Guyana Youth Corps that preceded the Guyana National Service Centre at Tumatumari and the surrounding community. It provided power for another centre that was established nearby at Konawaruk.
In 1973, Forbes Burnham decided that Guyana needed hydroelectricity and he identified Kumarau Falls. The problem here was that Venezuela was adamant about its claim, and it successfully thwarted those plans. At the time the cost of the project was not what it is today and Guyana would have used its resources for the most part.
Back then Burnham was open to the media. I remember riding with him on a tractor and trailer along what was to become the hydro road linking Itaballi to Puruni and continuing on to the falls. There was no problem with the media visiting any of the sites.
Today, forty years later, Guyana is once more trying to get hydroelectric power. It is using another site, one that was identified way back when Guyana was exploring the various possibilities. Makeshwar Fip Motilall came forward with the proposal that he construct the hydro. I was at the press conference and I learnt that he was going to raise finance overseas.
By way of a letter from Prime Minister Sam Hinds, I learnt that the government granted Motilall a Memorandum of Understanding in 1998. I was not aware of this memorandum of understanding, but I trust the records of the Prime Minister. After all, he is the person who holds responsibility for the energy sector.
It would seem that things did not go well because four years later Motilall was back, this time with an amended proposal. Again the government listened to Motilall reporting favourable results to a feasibility study he conducted.
Four years later he came back to say that he was ready to start the work and to report that he was seeking partners and that there was someone who was interested. He then got an interim licence in 2002.
I was there when he came with HARZA Engineering (now MWH). There was a press briefing at Office of the Prime Minister. There was no talk about a licence though. However, that licence was part of the natural progression.
This licence became the centre of a dispute and created some acrimony between the government and the press. I went to a forum called by Sithe Global, the people who are now going to spearhead the construction of the hydro project.
In response to a question by Chris Ram, Senior Vice President of Sithe Global, James McGowan, said that his company acquired the licence from Motilall. Two media houses reported this fact. They were aware of the law that stipulated that the licence was non-transferable.
If what Mr McGowan said was accurate then the issue becomes something else. The government, however, wasted no time in responding to two newspapers, Kaieteur News and Stabroek News. This appeared to be in keeping with the trend of media abuse.
Prime Minister Hinds wrote,  “The headlines of  Stabroek  News(SN) of 2011-05-12,  “Motilall sold Amaila licence to Sithe”,  and of Kaieteur News (KN) of the same date,  “Fip flips licence to Sithe Global” do our people and country great harm. “
Neither newspaper could understand the harm done by reporting on the comments by a leading light in the company undertaking the construction of the hydro project.
The Privatisation Unit wrote on the same issue, “The Interim License for the rights to develop the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project was in fact transferred from Synergy Holdings Inc. to Sithe Global Amaila Holdings Ltd. on 8th October, 2009, under Section 25 (1) of the Hydro Electric Power Act, Chapter 56:03, Section 7(1) of the Guyana Energy Agency Act 1997 (No. 31 of 1997) and Section 4(b) of the Energy Sector (Harmonization of Laws) Act 2002 (No. 2 of 2002), under the authorization of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds as Minister with responsibility for the Electricity Sector. The transfer of these rights was published on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister and has been publicly available to the media and to all interested persons since 2009.”
That is good for clearing the air and proving that the Vice President of Sithe Global erred. But the answer does not end there.
“It is therefore unfortunate that a few critics of the Amaila Falls project again seem bent on misleading the public on this important project,” the Privatisation unit wrote.
The Prime Minister also wrote, “SN and KN prefer to continue the innuendos about some sort of corruption and  to be flippant about this tremendous development  for our people and country, rather than to take the opportunity to  educate our population at large, about what is a very common way in which big projects,  such as the Amaila Falls hydropower  project,  get  done.”
So the media are blamed for reporting accurately a comment made by a party involved in the construction of the much-needed hydro project.
If the government is honest, then the transfer of the licence was properly done. The government could have been the only party to effect the transfer. If Mr McGowan is correct then this is a whole new kettle of fish.
Indeed the two newspapers have been questioning aspects of the project largely because they have been kept in the dark. When the equipment for the road project came in they were not allowed even the courtesy to take a photograph.
They have never been able to visit the road works to report on its progress and the effect it would have on the hydro project. They have not been kept abreast of the developments. When they questioned the record of Mr Motilall to construct a road they were abused by the government, not Mr Motilall.
This rush to protect Mr Motilall had led to the belief that there is a special relationship between him and the government. I am one being attacked and I believe that I am one of the most honest reporters.
I have an interest in the hydro project because I want to see Guyana develop. I want to see continuous power. Even as I was writing this I got hit by a power outage. I am also one who cannot understand the silence on the project.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds is contending that Synergy Holdings is a Sithe Global partner. “Sithe Global worked its way into the role of leading partner to take the Amaila Falls Hydropower project to construction and operation, on the request of Synergy,” the Prime Minister said.
Sithe Global is saying that there is no partnership. Am I to be attacked for reporting this?

---

---