‘Fip’ Motilall arrested in Florida
The former, controversial contractor of the Amaila Falls hydro road has ended up in a Florida jail. On Tuesday night,
Arrested: Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall
Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall, was arrested by the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. He was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI). He was taken to the Sheriff’s office where he was booked.
Motilall gained notoriety in Guyana after he initiated the Amaila Falls hydro-electric project but was unable to find financing. The project was taken up by Government and handed to a US developer.
Motilall was rewarded by being granted a US$15.4M contract to build more than 150 miles of access roads to take equipment and turbines to the project site at Amaila Falls, Region Eight.
However, there was no evidence that Motilall had experience in road building, much less handling the harsh terrain that the road construction would have involved.
Despite being advanced hundreds of millions of dollars, Motilall’s company, Synergy Holdings Inc., ran into all kinds of trouble. There was evidence that he brought in problematic equipment with some even sinking in the swampy areas.
Under the contract, Motilall was supposed to design and construct the road. Government had announced the award of the contract to Motilall on March 26, 2010. Synergy Holdings was given the first notice to proceed on October 5, 2010 for some sections of the road, while the green light for the other section through virgin rainforest was given on January 11, 2011.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, and Head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, had met with the press to justify the award of the contract to Motilall.
Brassington was insistent that Motilall was eminently qualified to execute the project. He even wagered that the contractor would complete the project on time and in excellent fashion.
In January 2012, days after being sworn in, the Donald Ramotar administration announced that Motilall had been fired for missing deadlines and failing to submit a required bond.
