Another report in the making!
Sep 17, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....eport-in-the-making/
The government is saying that it does not have the money to pay higher than the 1-10% increase in wages to public servants. The GPSU, the union representing workers should be able, as can any first year accounting student, to indicate where the monies to fund the increases in wages will come from.
They can point to the three billion dollars increase in VAT collection which the government collected in the first half of 2016 as being a source of the funding for increased wages. They can point to the heavy spending on Durban Park and on hosting the Golden Jubilee, expenditure which will not have to be repeated next year as being sources of financing increases for public servants.
They can point to the fact that the government has so far failed to spend more than half of the sum budgeted for this year. They can even ask the government to stop bailing out sugar workers and to remove entirely the subsidy on electricity in Linden and using those resources to finance wage increases for the government. Or it can ask for a forensic audit of the new government to see how many ‘bond’ –type contracts can be rescinded. It can even ask the government to remove the ‘fat cats’ who are being paid salaries commensurate with that which was paid under the PPPC.
Government says it cannot find the money to sustain salary increases above what is being offered to public servants. Yet government is finding or sourcing $1.6 billion to pay for a management consultancy for the Guyana Power and Light Inc. Are we serious in this country?
A report on the media has indicated that Cabinet, yes Cabinet, has approved a contract for the provision of consultancy services for the implementation of a Management Strengthening programme for the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL).
Why is there a need to be spending all this money to have some consultants come here and write a report on how the management of GPL can be strengthened?
Why the need for such a massive consultancy when the country already has workable model for the management of its energy sector? The reason given is that the consultancy would allow for a significant reduction in line losses.
Really? Since when can fixing line losses involve granting a billion dollar contract or strengthening the management at GPL?
Line losses at GPL are of two forms, technical and non-technical. Technical losses can only be reduced by increased investment in replacing inefficient lines and machinery. You do not need a consultancy to tell you that. There is already a plan in place to reduce technical losses by increased investment.
The non- technical losses must also be addressed through improved technologies. Investment too is needed to help reduce electricity theft, one of the major causes of non-technical losses. You do not need to pay consultants billions of dollars to help fix these problems. You need to apply to billions of dollars to the solutions which are already being put in place.
One had expected better from the APNU+AFC government. One had expected that the days of these multi-million dollar consultancies – which produce right sounding and well-reasoned reports but little physical progress – would have been scrapped. If after sixteen months this is the best that the APNU+ AFC can come up with, then the government is a greater disappointment that even its fiercest critics will allow.
The energy sector has a good management model. Energy is being generated by both the GPL and private companies such as Wartsilla. The private companies manage their own plants and sell power at a predetermined price to GPL.
The GPL should get out of generating electricity. It should be buying electricity from private suppliers through negotiated power purchase agreements. GPL should get out of the business of generating power. It should concentrate on supplying electricity to citizens and on developing plans for expanding the national grid.
Guyana does not need any consultants to advise us that this is the best model that is needed for Guyana’s electricity sector. This fact has long been known. Yet we are paying 1.6 billion dollars to provide the technical analysis and rationale to confirm what is already done. Where are we going in this country?
One of the arguments in favour of such consultancies is that unless these reports are done donor agencies will not fund future investment.
But why does Guyana have to go these donor agencies. Is there not something called public–private partnerships which, in the case of Wartsilla, have been a God-send for Guyana?