The Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) will be utilising a US$54 million Inter-American Develop-ment Bank (IDB)-funded project aimed at training senior management and tackling loss reduction.
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson yesterday revealed to reporters that Guyana had only utilised some US$300,000 of the funding in the last three years and is at risk of losing all of the money as the previous Board of Directors had not felt it necessary to require executive managers to comply with training.
He, however, said training is necessary for all staff—technical and administrative—to “ensure that we have revamped, reenergised, repowered GPL.”
Patterson added that the loss of 10 generating sets in the past six to eight years has been a direct result of poor management, while pointing out that some of the sets were rendered out of commission before their anticipated shelf life.
Patterson yesterday announced that Colin Forsythe, the Transportation Lead Specialist at the IDB, and former Divisional Director of Operations Elwyn Marshall were brought on as of yesterday to fill the holes in capacity management. He noted that he was awaiting Cabinet approval for the appointment of the new Board, which is to be done by the end of the month. He added that at that point a new CEO and deputy CEO will be appointed. Former CEO Bharat Dindyal was let go by the Minister, following a long running feud with the Deputy CEO (technical) Colin Welch.
Although the government was criticised for the decision, it was later revealed that the board was against keeping Dindyal on based on a scathing evaluation that blamed him for poor project and asset management.
Meanwhile, Patterson said that a full staff complement could be expected by the end of this year, by which time all of the interim contracts would have expired.
He also noted that current fuel transportation costs to the US$35 million 26 MW power plant at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara is roughly $10 million monthly and said since the wharf is yet to be completed, the fuel must be barged in every day.
He told members of the media that the issues with the station’s foundation have been resolved and that he has not received any reports of complaints, but he noted that there has been no independent verification as yet.
In the technical overview of the project, it was revealed that the soil quality was very poor and as a result sand, which was dumped to prevent sinking, started disappearing and geotextile material had to be imported. The plant was finally commissioned earlier this year.
