Head of Security at the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) Edgar Blackman has told Stabroek Business that the significant reduction in the incidence of vandalizing of the company’s installations by copper thieves is probably due to the measures put in place by government to monitor the operations of local scrap metal dealers more closely.
Speaking with Stabroek Business earlier this week Blackman said that the vandalizing of GT&T’s installations and the theft of its copper-insulated cables have now been reduced to “probably a few cases per month.” He said that while the situation appeared to have improved the company was, nonetheless, alert to the possibility that the thieves may not have given up in their efforts to target vulnerable installations.
Since 2006 government has moved to curb the high incidence of metal theft that has targeted the country’s – three utility companies – GT&T, the Guyana Power and Light Company and the Guyana Water Inc – instituting measures that have included a temporary ban on the export of non-ferrous metals and, more recently, the inspection by the utility companies of metal packed for export by local dealers.
Pressure from the government had forced scrap metal dealers to establish an Association a few years ago in an effort to legitimize an industry that comprises mostly illegal operators. However, this move failed to curb the practice since the Association was unable to rein in the hundreds of illegal dealers across the country. Differences of opinion among scrap dealers regarding the best ways of curbing the practice of metal theft had led to a falling out among key members of the Association.
Speaking with Stabroek Business earlier this week a local dealer who had declined to join the Association told Stabroek Business that he believed that the lull in metal theft may have had more to do with the reduced global demand for scrap in the wake of the slowdown in industrial production. He said that apart from the fact that there had been a slowdown in official scrap exports, overseas operators who had an interest in the trade and who were involved in the illegal movement of scrap across the country’s borders, now appear to be less interested in the trade. The dealer who told Stabroek Business that his own operations had included illegal exports said that he felt that the theft and illegal export of metal was likely to increase as soon as there was an upturn in global demand for the product. “When the price is good more people take the risk,” he said.
Blackman told Stabroek Business that GT&T’s losses resulting from stolen copper cable and the vandalizing of installations over the years had been considerable. He said that apart from the cost factor associated with repairs and replacement the company was also relieved that the reduction in the incidence of vandalizing of GT&T installations was now allowing the company to direct more resources, particularly human resources, to its telecommunications build-out.
However, the industry source told Stabroek Business that while the authorities had effectively “blocked up” an important loophole through the system of inspecting cargo at exit ports, the failure to effective seal off the country’s borders against illegal exports could continue to have an impact on the temptation to continue to raid the infrastructure of companies like GT&T.