Onetime Chairman of the former Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC), Ramon Gaskin wants government to explain its decision to end the management of Guyana Power and Light (GPL) stations here by Finnish company, Wartsila in favour of local expertise.
Gaskin, under whose tenure Wartsila’s service was first retained here in 1994 , says that he believes that the non- renewal could be detrimental to Guyanese and holds the prospect of taking Guyana back to days plagued by lengthy blackouts.
“Government should make public the reasons for the decision. They should tell us what is has cost us over the years and what it will now cost us under the new arrangement…they ought to have good reasons,” Gaskin told Stabroek News yesterday.
This newspaper also contacted Wartsila’s Chairman and Manager Andre Bosman who explained that he will check with the company’s client, GPL, before a public statement is issued.
However, sources informed that a meeting between Government, GPL and Wartsila has been set for the 26th of this month. The company is hoping that it can negotiate a renewal of its contract.
The company boasts of its relationship with Guyana with the operating and managing of four industrial power stations being the longest for it globally.
Altogether, Wartsila operates and manages five power stations in Guyana, with the contract for the four owned by GPL, coming to an end on December 31st 2016.
The fifth, located at the Skeldon Estate, was contracted to last five years and will come to an end in April 2020.
Government is mulling not renewing the contract for GPL’s four plants when that contract comes to an end and have a local company operate and manage the Wartsila engines.
“It is believed that it will work out cheaper for the country that way because it is our field workers who are maintaining and operating the engines anyway. This would eliminate the money going to a third party and can be used to develop GPL’s current infrastructure here…no jobs would be lost, or well …not many because the company will use the same staff,” a source explained.
“Getting spares and the technical help is not anything major. You have to understand that we can also buy spares from Wartsila direct and the company holds training all over the world. All we would have to do is sign up our local people for those trainings be they in Florida or anywhere for that matter that they are being held. It is not as big as people are saying because we have the qualified personnel right here. It would just be the strict management of the maintenance of the engines that could pose a problem. Yes, Wartsila are sticklers for compliance to the highest safety and operational standards but our guys have to be given a chance to build their names too,” the source added.
Prior to 1992, the power system was brought to its knees under the then PNC government. Total and lengthy shutdowns of the power system were the order of the day. In one instance a total shutdown of the power system was termed an `act of God’. There were also extended periods of load shedding in all parts of the country. There were also numerous cases of bad management of power generators by the then GEC resulting in extensive damage and costly repairs. There was also the scandal surrounding the acquisition of a power barge from the US which was a monumental failure. Sources say the government and GPL would have to justify that they have since acquired a critical mass of qualified managers and rigorous systems for the management of these power stations. It has also been pointed out that GEC was managing only a small amount of power generators then – around 30 mw compared to the over 100 mw today.
Stabroek News reached out to Chairman of GPL, Robert Badal on Tuesday who said that information on the Wartsila contract should not have been made public as yet and that the board will address the issue in the coming week.
“That information should not have been given like that. I don’t know how they do that,” he said. Asked when he will make a formal announcement of the decision, Badal replied, “Let us wait and see next week… next week.”
For Gaskin, who is also an engineer and gained experience during the operations of GEC, the decision to hire a local company to man the country’s power stations could lead to myriad problems, resulting in prolonged power outages for the nation.
He said that he is yet to glean a clear understanding of how the decision was formed as the only information he has is from what he has read in the press but that the public needs details as they are the consumers of the power and the decision is going to affect them one way or another.
“I don’t understand why government has stepped in and is involved in ending the Wartsila (presence) here, that was a GPL arrangement. The company has been doing a very good job over the years. The programme has proven to be very effective since they first came here, during a time when there were many, many power outages. That company is from Finland and although it has our workers, they are supervised by the Wartsila people who are much disciplined in their line of work,” Gaskin asserted.
“The management, maintenance and the provision of spares for the Wartsila engines I am worried about because we would not be able to do so as that company has. Like I said that is a very professional and disciplined company. Yes we have disciplined people here too but I am kind of scared, to tell you the truth, that we can very well go back to what has happened where engines are broken up because we had a lot of indisciplined people then that broke up the engines, not maintaining them well,” he added.
