Motilall promises four-wheel drive access in another month
…says schedule won’t affect closure of ‘hydro’ project
PRESIDENT of Synergy Holdings Inc Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall says in another month, the Amaila Access Road will be able to accommodate four-wheel drive vehicles, and that the delay will not affect financial closure for the larger Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project.
He blamed the delays on the La Niña weather pattern of earlier in the year.
“I understand the need for information and for the public to be aware of our progress, as this is a project of national importance. It has been a really tight schedule, and as you are aware, we did not have the normal dry season between January and April as expected, because of the reported La Niña effect that all of Guyana experienced,” Motilall said in a statement to this newspaper yesterday.
He said that despite what he described as “significant and continuous” rains, he is very proud of the progress that has been made and the work done so far. He noted, however, that Section One – the Mabura Hills road –  is no longer part of Synergy’s contract, as Government has decided to improve that as part of the overall contract to upgrade the road all the way to Lethem.
“We have several teams operating out of six camps as of today, spread across four sections of the project (Sections 2,4,6,7),” he said, adding that the teams at reference are each doing a different unit process: Clearing, grubbing and root-raking, bedding up the sub-base, building bridges, and capping the final surface of the road.
He said for him to give a progress report on the percentage of work completed, one needs to understand that the final section (Section 7) was cleared to within 18 km of the Amaila Falls out of a total of 164 km of roads in Sections 2 to 7.
“We had committed to have a four-wheel drive access by June 30, 2011, but the rains and levels of the creeks and river crossings caused some inherent force majeure delays, but I am confident that within the next month, we will have this access road. We currently have eight pieces of equipment working on Section 7 alone,” he said.
The Synergy President said over 50 per cent of the total road is bedded up and needs minor dressing and sloping before the final laterite cap is placed on it.
“We are continuing to focus on the final clearing and bedding up of the remainder, as we cannot place laterite in the rain,” he said, adding:
“Synergy has 12 trucks in the country to transport laterite plus sub-contracts for nine more trucks when we are ready to lay this laterite. This will be done using double shifts and running at nights, but the rains must hold, and we need to get a final definition on the width and final load bearing capacity of the road before laterite can be laid down and compacted.”
“This is something Government has asked us to relook at in conjunction with Sithe Global and the hydro general contractor as they evaluate if the road needs to carry more than the designed 100 tons,” he said.
He said too that if the road needs to be higher, then the laterite layer will need to be thickened from its current six inch design thickness.
“We need to get a clear definition on this before laying the laterite as it is better to lay it out in one step rather than coming back and adding to an existing bed. We expect a final decision on this by mid-July and then laterite can be laid down and a final 2WD driving surface created,” Motilall said.
He said the company’s other deadline of being substantially complete is September 9, 2011. But he said that this deadline may be pushed back to account for weather and engineering delays.
“As stated, this schedule will not affect financial closure of the hydro as we are committed to supporting that schedule which is also why we are so focused on having four-wheel drive access for the hydro contractor to get to the site in a timely fashion,” he said.