GEC General Manager will be axed in new deal --PM Hinds
Terrence Esseboom
RABINDRANAUTH (Robin) Singh, General Manager of the Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC), will be an immediate casualty when the capitalisation deal with the CDC/ESBI merger is wrapped up, Prime Minister Sam Hinds confirmed Monday. Answering questions on a live `call in' programme on GTV Channel 11, Mr Hinds said Singh will be "displaced" when 14 foreign specialists from the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Electricity Sector Board International of Ireland (CDC/ESBI) take control of the power utility. The fate of six departmental managers will be linked to opportunities made available under the proposed expansion plan by the foreign firm, the Acting President told viewers. He indicated that these persons can be redeployed as part of the expansion strategy in the new Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated. Mr Hinds and Mr Winston Brassington, Head of the Privatisation Unit, were guests on a linked television and radio programme anchored by Mr Alan Fenty. Displacement of GEC employees, stealing of electricity, cost of the Management Contract, transparency of the deal and tabling of the amended Public Utilities Commission Act (PUCA) and the Electricity Sector Reform Act (ESRA) were also raised during the 40-minute showing. "The (GEC privatisation) transaction was looked at in detail (by a number of local and foreign experts) and it's a fair and balanced deal. It's as good as we can get," Brassington stated, answering a question by a viewer. "It is a good transaction for us," Mr Hinds emphasised. However, the three Parliamentary opposition parties, the People's National Congress (PNC), the Alliance For Guyana (AFG) and The United Force (TUF), this week criticised the administration for concealing key terms of the agreement from them. Documentation on the compact will only be made public after the two sides formalise the arrangement, Mr Hinds said in an interview with the Chronicle Saturday. Brassington explained during the television show, that "transparency...doesn't mean revealing all the facts." The Prime Minister said if the Government does not close the deal early, it will have to inject some US$6M into the electricity system almost "immediately." The Consumer Advisory Bureau (CAB) Limited wants the two Bills deferred to allow for changes in some of the clauses of those legislations. A CAB statement yesterday noted that the capitalisation transaction will give GPL "financial nirvana of the highest return for the lowest risk." The advocate body noted too, that "the stark reality is that the privatisation of GEC is not about shifting the burden of state-owned enterprises from a government bureaucracy to private investors. The financial risk remains with Government." Further, "surprisingly, the GEC arrangement seems inconsistent with the policy of MFIs (multilateral financial institutions) with respect to privatisation in developing countries," the statement charged. On the issue of rates, Hinds disclosed that some Guyanese will be billed "below the economic rate" established in the understanding with CDC/ESBI. A summary of the deal between the Government and the foreign firm explains that the ESRA and the Licence will determine how rates and tariffs are to be calculated. According to the summary, the calculation of rates and tariffs for this year and 2000 will be assessed according to `Headline' rates and `Actual' rates, to cushion the impact of future rate increases on consumers. "At the beginning of 2001, customers will begin to pay the full rates," the document explained.
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