The Auditor General should report on payments for the Amaila Falls access road

Sep 19, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor of KN,
The Government’s Request for Proposals in early 2010 for the building of the access road to the Amaila falls hydropower dam site called for an all-weather road for heavy traffic; 85 km of road rehabilitation;
110 km of new road; the whole 195 km of road, 20 metres wide, surfaced with a white-sand-clay base 300 mm thick topped by 150 mm of laterite, the whole compacted to 95 proctor; HDPE culverts, bridges and river-crossing pontoons capable of bearing 100 tonne loads, 20 tonnes per axle; 65 km x 100 metres wide completely cleared right-of-way for the transmission line; all to be completed within eight months/240 days from contract effectiveness date.
At a news conference on 23 March 2011, the CEO of Synergy Holdings Inc. said that ‘“As I get done…I submit the invoice to the Ministry of Public Works; it goes to the Ministry of Finance…I get paid.”
(Kaieteur News, 23 March 2011 – ‘Rains could affect August deadline – ‘Fip’ Motilall’ – https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/03/23/rains-could-affect-august-deadline-%e2%80%98fip%e2%80%99-motilall/).
I queried such payment in my letter published by Kaieteur News on 24 March 2011 (‘The road to Amaila Falls – trick or treat?’ – http://www.kaieteurnews online.com/2011/03/24/the-road-to-amaila-falls-trick-or-treat/): ‘So, if I understand correctly, Synergy Holdings Inc. is being paid as if it were completing the road to full specification while it is actually only building a track suitable for 4WD access. Editor, could
you ask the payment office of the Ministry of Finance, to clarify the story?’. No response has been published yet from the Ministry of Finance, so presumably a substantial fraud is indeed taking place?
This is NICIL money, so derived ultimately from Guyana‘s taxpayers, not Norwegian taxpayers or Chinese bankers. My query was published by Stabroek News on 06 May 2011(Gov’t had tendered for an all-weather road to Amaila not a muddy track’, http://www.stabroeknews.com/2011/opinion/letters/05/06/gov%e2%80%99t-had-tendered-for-an-all-weather-road-to-amaila-not-a-muddy-track/) but we have had no response from the Ministry of Finance.
Now we have confirmation from technical advisor Walter Willis (Ministry of Transport and Hydraulics) that the construction by Synergy has been to 5 metres, later 7 metres, of road width instead of the required 20 metres. And Synergy has only completed 40 per cent of its contract (Kaieteur News, 17 September 2011 ‘US$15.4M Amaila Falls project…Deadline extended to yearend’,
http://www.kaieteurnews online.com/2011/09/17/us15-4m-amaila-falls-project%e2%80%a6deadline-extended-to-yearend/).
If Mr Motilall’s claim about payment was true, he would have been paid 40 per cent of the USD 15.4 million total contract (= USD 6.2 million) but apparently only USD 2.9 million has been paid. There is
a strong smell of fraud about this entire construction project, from the extraordinary award of the contract to an entity apparently with no relevant qualifications or experience in road building, no capital
and no equipment, onwards through the construction phase.
Mr Editor, it is time for the Auditor General to conduct an investigation and issue a full report.
Janette Bulkan

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