Dear Editor,

Hats off to the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry for making a common sense move to repair the Moco Moco hydropower water transmission pipeline.

Projects

There are usually two extremes of getting a project to work. One is to complete state-of-the-art works with high quality components so that the thing can operate for a long time with the minimum of maintenance. The other is to get enough of the basics done so that operations can start, and to continue with more maintenance and prioritised construction of the required infrastructure. The first is the top-down, outside-in schemes of government initiated, foreign funded projects. The second is growth from the roots of sound ideas, enterprise and hard work; the way genuine individual or family Guyanese businesses have done or would have to do. The first is supposed to come with schedules and warranties; the second has neither.

Most projects are compromises, with the maintenance and other requirements clearly spelled out.

However, it seems the Moco-Moco Hydropower project leant, at least in the minds of the Guyanese administrators, more to the first extreme; or was it that we, as beggars could not understand the aftercare instructions of the Chinese engineers, or had not the status to ask for schedules and guarantees?

The new Skeldon sugar factory would be even more extreme, since it is so massive for this country, and not only is it foreign funded by the same people who funded the Moco Moco Hydropower, but even the effective controlling and initiating management is foreign. This means that the impersonal laws of economics and finance learnt in the modern business schools both these players attended will be the basis of decisions vital to Guyanese workers, and Government will be reduced to nominal ownership.

Participation

Much of our disappointment could have been avoided if the interested and qualified public had had access to information and shared the joys and sorrows of achievements and setbacks. So what if that would open it to streams of praise and prophecies of disaster? It would certainly test the mettle of the local project leaders and raise the level of public debate. Those emerging with integrity would gain the respect and confidence of the public, and give the young some more to aspire to for stardom than song, dance, and theatre.

Four years ago, on my first visit to that region, I attempted to visit the then fully operating site. At the Lethem office I was told that it was far away and the worker transportation had already left for the day. "No problem," I said, "just tell me when to come." I would have to have the permission of the person in charge. He was busy, but I waited until he decided he could see me. He said the worker transportation was just sufficient for them and they could not risk overloading. "No problem," I said again.

I explained that I had not long arrived in Lethem by walking from Linden: 17 more miles would be a small matter; food and shelter was also not to be his worry. But then it seemed the problem became one of security: there were enemies about who were jealous of the government's success in the project ... It would be better if I sought the Minister's permission for the next time I visited the region.

This last salvo put the matter beyond my reach.

The only persons who could vouch for me were some church people, a few persons whose vehicles passed me on the road/trail and enquired of my mission, a schoolmate, a dozen or so former students who I met in the few days, and two members of the Astronomical Society, one of whom was the GDF commander 1/4 mile away, but he was only a

lieutenant, far from ministerial heights.

Responsibility

My advice to the government is not to see all people who do not belong to your party as possible subversives. How will you ever get cooperation? Choose instead the most competent person who is willing to make or stake his reputation. Allow the public to contribute and get excited about the project; instead of contributing to the suspicion and distrust bred by secrecy.

Who was really responsible for the Moco Moco Hydropower project? Who was in charge? Whose reputation was at stake? The Chinese, or the Guyanese? Could it be that the Guyanese junior partners simply accepted the Chinese as the senior partners without careful translation, satisfied that if anything went wrong, no blame could be imputed to anyone? This sort of thing happens often in school projects where students have to work in groups. Poorly monitored individuals of varying abilities are assigned equal status but vague responsibilities. Most of them do little real work, preferring to piggyback on the output of the one(s) they perceive to be best, mistakes and all.

My advice to the RCCI is to repair the pipe, not the supports, which, from the photograph in the Stabroek News, seems to be part of the problem. The chief structural problem is getting the weight of the pipe supported down that height. The concrete steps and pipe supports add to the load that the last sedimentary deposits on the hillsides ultimately have to support, unless they were anchored to the underlying rock. Have any studies been done on the mechanics of the soil? This does not require great overseas expertise. Simple avalanche tests can be done in a beaker or a box to determine the friction angles.

Yours faithfully,

Alfred Bhulai