The recent public advertisement regarding the planned sale of “various scrap metal” by the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) would appear to point in the direction of some measure of success in creating an environment in which some semblance of normalcy can be restored to the local scrap metal trade.
An advertisement appearing in the October 20th Sunday Stabroek provides notice of GPL’s intention to offer to the public various lots on scrap on an “as is, where is” basis. Divided into four categories the scrap comprises: (1) assorted mixed metals, (2) defective meters containing various metals, (3) alternators, empty metal containers and (4) transformers comprising various metals. Viewing will take place at Sophia.
In recent years concerns over metal theft and various other irregularities associated with the scrap metal trade have attracted the attention of the Ministry of Business which, in the wake of seeking to regularise the trade, set up a Scrap Metal Unit within the Ministry. Protests from victims of metal-based infrastructure theft, not least the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GTT) have led to the implementation of new regulations governing the trade including the requirement that businesses in the trade register with the Ministry of Business. GTT has reported millions of dollars in losses as well as disruption to telephone services arising out of the vandalising of the company’s copper-based infrastructure and while the incidence of theft appears to have subsided somewhat, the company’s infrastructure is still believed to be vulnerable.
It was largely the protestations of GTT that pushed government in the direction of closing the scrap metal trade for a considerable period though the trade was reopened earlier this year, albeit with new rules that afford the Minister the prerogative of closing the trade again should operational glitches that compromise its integrity arise in the future.
While developments like the recent GPL scrap-for-sale advertisement would appear to point in the direction of an easing of anxiety over the crisis that has afflicted the sector, problems have been known to surface without a great deal of warning. In April this year alarm bells began to ring again after unnamed executives of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) raised the issue of the returns from an estimated $3 billion worth of scrap metal which had been consigned for sale.
The period of viewing for the scrap advertised in the GPL notice commenced on Monday October 14 and concludes on Tuesday November 1.
