http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/news/stories/01/01/opposition-likely-to-scrutinize-amaila-falls-project-in-national-assembly-2/
Proyecto de la Hidroeléctrica de Amaila en el Río
Kuribrong, en la Guayana Esequiba Zona en Reclamación
Tomado de:
Opposition
likely to scrutinize Amaila Falls project in National Assembly
With the
opposition feeling that there are still too many unanswered questions
surrounding the Amaila Falls Hydropower project, the entire project is likely
to undergo scrutiny in the National Assembly in the days ahead.
The
opposition parties A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For
Change (AFC) say that they will be using the appropriate parliamentary forum to
bring transparency to the project. They are especially concerned, they say,
about the US$15.4M access road project which was awarded to Fip Motilall of
Synergy Holdings.
Fip Motilall
APNU’s
Chairman Dr Rupert Roopnaraine said that the opposition parties will be
reviewing this project in its totality. According to him, the parties via
the appropriate parliamentary organ will be demanding proper due diligence of
the project.
Regarding the
access road project, Roopnaraine told Stabroek News that APNU will be calling
for this to be audited and re-assessed. “Any decision on its future will be
determined by the quantitative and qualitative findings of the audit,” he
continued.
Speaking on
behalf of the AFC, party chairman Khemraj Ramjattan fully endorsed the
government pursuing green energy but expressed concern about the rising cost
associated with the project. “Since the government has signed on we would
like to scrutinize this Amaila Falls deal with the company Sithe Global [the
developer of the project] being asked to come in to an Economic Sector Services
Committee meeting in parliament and to be scrutinized thoroughly, especially
[with respect to] this very important point – from $400M to $600M to $835M
being the cost,” Ramjattan said.
Noting the sharp
increase in the cost of constructing the project, Ramjattan said that it was
likely that Guyanese consumers would have to bear most of this because the
investor would need to be repaid. “We really want to know why these costs
have jumped so high,” he said.
Ramjattan
expressed the view that when Sithe Global appears before the Economic Services
Committee, members of the public should be allowed to be present to question
the company. “For all you know, when they give us the answers and [they]
are cogent convincing answers, it could very well be that this project is one
that could be viable in the long term for meeting… Guyanese energy needs. So
we’re not having a blanket thing saying we would not support it. We would like
to see the facts before us and we would make a judgment call,” Ramjattan said;
“It is not that the AFC does not want to see hydropower schemes and these
investors coming in to Guyana.”
Regarding the
access road project, Ramjattan said that it has already been established that
Motilall did not have any road-building experience. This lack of experience,
Ramjattan said, is being borne out by the delays in the project and the fact
that now aspects of it have had to be subcontracted out.
Cabinet
Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon recently announced that the completion date of the
road has been further pushed back to March/April of this year. The project was
originally slated to be completed by September last year but was subsequently
pushed back to December. It has now been agreed by Motilall, the consultants
and the Government of Guyana that sections of the road will have to be
sub-contracted out to other companies to speed up the works.
Ramjattan
said that Luncheon was trying to score cheap political points by now blaming
Motilall for the delay of the road. “Now all of a sudden, [when] the government
is in a minority situation, it wants to put all the blame on Fip Motilall as if
it did not have any blame. The biggest portion of blame ought to be on the
PPP/C Government of Guyana,” Ramjattan said. “You can’t give a man who knows
nothing about roads to go build roads in the jungle of Guyana,” he went on to
say, pointing to the difficulties that the topography and the soil type would
present.
“We would
like to call in Fip Motilall for scrutiny in the Economic Services Committee to
find out how he managed to get this contract,” Ramjattan said; “All of these
things have to come up for review.”
The contract
awarded to Synergy was for “the upgrading of approximately 85 km of existing
roadway, the design and construction of approximately 110 km of virgin roadway,
the design and construction of two new pontoon crossings at the Essequibo and
Kuribrong rivers.” The fourth part of the project is for the clearing of a
pathway alongside the roadway to allow for the installation of approximately 65
km of transmission lines.
Sections of
the road had to be readjusted when a team of external consultants assessed the
project and highlighted that there were poorly outlined specifications in the
original project document. They recommended immediate changes to the design,
including widening the road and reducing its steepness (grades). Motilall
was then instructed to widen sections of the access road.
The Amaila
Falls Hydro-power plant is expected to be a 165 MW facility at the Amaila and
Kuribrong rivers. When completed, the government has promised that the cost of
electricity to consumers will drop considerably.
Nota del editor del blog: Al
referenciarse a la República Cooperativa de Guyana se deben de tener en cuenta
los 159.500Km2, de territorios ubicados al oeste del río Esequibo conocidos con
el nombre de Guayana Esequiba o Zona en Reclamación sujetos al Acuerdo de
Ginebra del 17 de febrero de 1966.
Territorios estos sobre los
cuales el gobierno Venezolano en representación de la Nación venezolana se
reservo sus derechos sobre los territorios de la Guayana Esequiba en su nota
del 26 de mayo de 1966 al reconocerse al nuevo Estado de Guyana .
“...por lo tanto, Venezuela
reconoce como territorio del nuevo Estado, el que se sitúa al este de la margen
derecha del río Esequibo y reitera ante la comunidad internacional, que se
reserva expresamente sus derechos de soberanía territorial sobre la zona que se
encuentra en la margen izquierda del precitado río; en consecuencia, el
territorio de la Guayana Esequiba sobre el cual Venezuela se reserva
expresamente sus derechos soberanos, limita al Este con el nuevo Estado de Guyana,
a través de la línea del río Esequibo, tomando éste desde su nacimiento hasta
su desembocadura en el Océano Atlántico...”
Mapa que señala el Espacio
de Soberanía Marítima Venezolana que se reserva, como Mar Territorial mediante el Decreto
Presidencial No 1152 del 09 de Julio de 1968.
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