Contractors likely to be awarded Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) contracts were on Tuesday oriented about the company’s expectations and reminded of their obligations regarding adherence to work standards.
The company took the initiative to organise the workshop to bring together contractors who have worked with GWI over the years and new ones who wish to be engaged by GWI. The company said that it was using the contractors’ attendance at the workshop as a criterion for awarding contracts.
With the termination of the Severn Trent contract and the appointment of a new management of GWI, it was recognised that one of the major deficiencies in the organisation was the lack of a working relationship between contractors and management.
This was highlighted by the number of contracts that are in some stage of dispute between GWI and contractors.
With the development of a turnaround plan to effectively move the organisation forward in the next three years, GWI has committed funds in excess of US$50M currently in its financial programme to help improve the water sector.
Most of the funds will be used for infrastructural improvements such as building of iron removal plants, water treatment plants, transmission and distribution mains and the installation of meters.
“These are all aspects of GWI operations that impinge on the level of service that consumers should receive. To this end special attention is being paid to building partnerships with contractors to have a better understanding of the quality standard that GWI is aiming to establish in the delivery of service,” the company said in a press release.
The company said in the past there have been many conflicts with contractors not being able to relate properly to the company’s stakeholders. To this end, there will be focus on customer relationship between GWI and the customers.
Some of the objectives of the workshop were to foster a greater awareness among contractors on the company’s expectations, to adopt and implement work practices that consistently reflect a positive image of the company, demonstrate a positive commitment to more customer centred work processes, and implement occupational health and safety requirements as well as environmentally safe work practices.
Managing Director of GWI Karan Singh said that all of the objectives of the workshop have been 100 per cent achieved.
Another workshop will be held some time around April next year.
