Amaila Falls Access Road near completion
… only 28km left to be paved with laterite – Source
October 31, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source - Kaieteur News
Plagued with numerous troubles from its inception, the Amaila Falls Access Road is said to be near completion. This publication has been reliably informed that only 28 km of the 162 km road is left to be paved with laterite.
A completed section of the Amaila Falls Access Road
Section seven which was taken from the local contractors and handed to China Railway First Group (Guyana) Inc, the company that has been slated to build the 840MW Hydro Electric Plant, is complete.
According to reports, section three of the road which was contracted to Toolsie Persaud, has a remaining 17 km of roadway left to pave with laterite, while the section contracted out to Ivor Allen Construction Company has an additional 11 km.
A decision however is yet to be made as it relates to whether the Kuribrong crossing will be bridged using a fixed bridge or pontoon crossing. At present a pontoon crossing is being utilized.
Works completed so far total in excess of US$26M – a far cry from the US$15.4M in the original contract to complete the entire road which was handed to Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall’s Synergy Holdings Inc.
More than US$30M in contracts has been handed out over the years, with several contractors failing to make the cut.
Earlier this year work on the road had ground to a halt due to bad weather conditions and observers at the time had noted that in future when Government and contractors ink contracts for roads in the interior, they must take into account the documented patterns of rain, given that they are expected to undertake works in a “rainforest.”
The road project was being undertaken in a number of segments, with the Ministry of Public Works assuming responsibility for ‘Section Two.’ That section runs along the Mabura Road to the Essequibo River and has a contract price of $336,094,861.
Section Three was allocated to Toolsie Persaud Quarries Inc. for $373.3M. That section of the Amaila Falls road stretches from Butukari to the Kaburi Village bypass.
The same company has also been awarded a contract for Section Four of the road for $246M.
Section Four runs from the Kaburi/Omai junction to the Issano bypass.
Ivor Allen was awarded the $182.3M contract for Section Five of the road that runs from the Issano junction to Craig Road.
Section Six of the road was awarded to G. Bovell Construction Services for $281.7M, but that contract had to be terminated.
It was subsequently granted in two lots, with the first from Issano Junction to Sorrow Hill being allocated to Ivor Allen for $145M. The second lot of Section Six was awarded to Dwarka Nauth for $45M.
Hassan N Pasha General Building and Civil Contractor was handed the last and reportedly the most difficult section of the road, ‘Section Seven’ with a contract price of $838M.
That contract was terminated in April 2012 after only 15 per cent of the work was completed.
Pasha received almost $315M.
The contract was subsequently handed to China Railway First Group (Guyana) Inc. for $1.7B (US$8.5M).
Only recently Head of State, Donald Ramotar, announced that government would continue to vigorously pursue the mega project which, if undertaken, would be the largest such project in Guyana.
Source - http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....oad-near-completion/
