I am disgusted beyond reason at the spate of criticisms on the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project being levied against the Government of Guyana by a particular group of individuals, who time and time again, bombard the daily print media with their vicious, irrelevant misgivings. Recently, these naysayers seem hell-bent on giving the public the impression that the Government, through a selective bidding process, awarded the visionary project to Synergy Holdings Inc, the company that won the bid.
A Ministry of Finance release stated that before the proposals were evaluated, bidders were examined to determine whether they meet the pre-qualification criteria as was outlined in the advertisement and tender documentation.
These pre-qualifications included: experience of potential contractor, availability of equipment, access to materials, and adequacy of personnel and capacity of potential contractor to undertake the scope of work within an allotted timeframe.
Subsequent to this assessment, Synergy was rated the most compliant, viable and with a bid of US $15, 400.000, offered the lowest price and showing lucidity in the technicalities entailed in the project.
Moreover, Synergy has a comprehensive work plan that indicated its capacity to meet an eight-month deadline.
I am convinced though, that even if it had been another engineering firm undertaking this project, government would have still been criticised, because this stream of thought to vilify and stymie its efforts at national development, unfortunately, is embedded in their psyche.
It is difficult to comprehend their contention, when this project will transform the social and economic landscape of this country.