Dear Editor,
I refer to the comments by project head Mr Alexei Ramotar contained in a report on the Guyana Brazil fibre optic link captioned ‘Use of local work force delays gov’t-led fibre optic project’ in the Sunday Chronicle of February 17.
I must compliment Mr Ramotar on the timing of his statements where he blames the Guyanese workforce for delays in the project. He must also consider that he is a member of the Guyanese workforce and could be unwittingly taking responsibility for the delay in this project. The report will certainly add to the defence or justification of the Marriott project not employing any Guyanese, and only Chinese.
Since Mr Ramotar is a very public individual with several public statements to his credit, it would be very helpful for us, the members of the humble local workforce if he stated the terms of reference for this project, and the required qualifications and experience. Perhaps we could be informed of the process and medium used to advertise for jobs, his included, and the selection process based on professional merit. This is a large project costing millions of US$, and if successful will bring great benefit to the Guyanese people. Based on the foregoing readers will be the judge of matters of competency and the blame game.
It is very troubling that Mr Ramotar’s numerous statements over the last two years have very conflicting stories about the project, while the Guyanese workforce was never blamed.
1) April 14, 2011 Guyana Times:
‘Laying of govt’s fibre-optic cable from Brazil 50 per cent complete’
“Overall, the government is hoping to have the lines fully powered by August, by when all state offices would access high-speed Internet connection.”
Well it did not happen in August 2011 nor August 2012 − August 2013? Not a chance; the Guyanese workforce, according to Mr Ramotar, caused the delay.
2) March 6, 2012 Guyana Chronicle: ‘First phase e-governance initiative 85 percent complete’
“The first phase of Guyana’s E-Governance initiative, utilising a fibre optic cable stretching from Lethem to Georgetown, is 85 percent complete and the Project Manager, Alexei Ramotar , said that segment will be ready for commissioning by July month end, if not before.
“President Donald Ramotar’s son told the Guyana Chronicle, yesterday, that the laying of the 560 kilometres conduit has been done and it is already hooked up to ‘Oi’, the giant Brazil telecommunications provider that will be providing Guyana the link to access the rest of the world.
“Ramotar said work on the repeater stations, another aspect of the project, is progressing satisfactorily and what remains to be finished is the connection to them and testing of the system, all of which should be completed within the next three months.”
3) November 3, 2012:
‘Fibre optic cable links Guyana, Brazil – Mid-year Report circulated to cabinet’
“A total of 560 kilometers of fibre optic cable has been deployed from Lethem to Georgetown as part of Government’s quest to transform and modernise the society. According to the 2012 Mid-year Report, which was circulated in the National Assembly last week, in addition to the length of fibre optic cable, five repeater stations along the route have been constructed.
“It was outlined that the electrical works for these stations are currently being sourced and installed and have already allowed for a connection to Brazil. The connection to the neighbouring territory was established during the third quarter of this year.”
So far no blame on our Guyanese workforce.
4) September 13, 2012
‘Gov’t experiencing difficulty with fiber optic cable’
“Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon has said that Government has been experiencing some amount of difficulty with the LTE Fiber Optic Cable program.”
The report of trouble was handed over to the master.
Mr Ramotar was press shy after the above report until Sunday, February 17, 2013, when he blamed the Guyanese workforce for delaying the project. The Guyanese contractors on the project are unfortunate that the Chinese working on the Marriott caused them to get blamed. They were doing well since 2011.
The Guyanese contractors on this project must speak for themselves; they all have proven track records. Laying a cable is a no-brainer job and is not technical; it requires rigid supervision, inspection and testing as it progresses. If this was not done the failure would rest solely with the Project Manager.
Engineering & Construction Inc (EIC) was in contact with Huawei for most of last year giving them numerous quotes for various scope of works on one phase of this project, and providing them with revisions to their designs, etc. They kept coming back for quote after quote and never had a tender document or a bidding process; we spent hundreds of man hours doing technical work. When we realized that they will not play by the professional rules we terminated our contact with them.
Some time last December we had a call from a Colombian company to hire us as a sub-contractor to work on the projects we bid on with Huawei. We indicated no interest.
On the subject of Chinese workers, we will welcome them at Skeldon Sugar Factory where we are working along with GuySuCo personnel and a South African Company, Bosch, to correct poor design and substandard construction done by the Chinese contractor and supplier. Regrettably they were fully paid and allowed to walk without fulfilling the defects liability, all at a great loss to this nation and the sugar industry. Regrettably also GuySuCo’s former chairman, director and subject minister were allowed to walk to promotions without any responsibility owing to the Skeldon Sugar Factory problems, and the people who depend on this factory for a living.
Guyana has very good contractors if we are given the same conditions as the Chinese, who are exempt from tax, NIS, PAYE, and receive duty-free concessions, and we will pay our employees better and surpass the Chinese.
ECI is currently working on the Frequency Conversion of 28MW Wartsila Power Plant in Kingston. Work commenced on the 24 MW Wartsila Power Plant at Vreed-en-Hoop, all with proud Guyanese skills, and a technical and engineering workforce. These projects are the ultimate pride of the Guyanese workforce.
I call on all members of our Guyanese workforce not to let people like Mr Alexei Ramotar blame us and that they demand an apology from him.
Yours faithfully,
Sam Barakat
Engineering
& Construction Inc
