SEI power generation would now be managed by Wartsila. Why
| The sale of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) co-generation power plant at Skeldon forBusinessman, Robert BadalUS$30M is a clear indication that Government has no answers to problems facing the industry.“This latest move by the PPP Government shows clearly how incompetent it is with no answers to the problems facing GuySuCo and the thousands of families that depend on it for their livelihood,” says businessman, Robert Badal.A former sugar industry worker, Badal now owns the Pegasus Hotel and the Guyana Stockfeeds Limited. He has come out in support of the coalition which is contesting the May 11 elections.“It shows vividly that a once profitable enterprise has been made bankrupt by poor decision making of a ruling elite in a similar fashion that they presided over the impending collapse of the National Insurance Scheme, the impending destruction of the hotel industry and many others,” the businessman said yesterday.Last week, in a joint statement, GuySuCo, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), which handles Government assets, announced that it has sold the power plant.The sale will raise money for the cash-strapped GuySuCo which has been facing sliding production and world prices in recent years.The power plant was a major part of the US$200M Skeldon modernization project which included a new factory and which was handed over the Chinese contractor to Guyana in August 2009. The project has been facingGPL’s Chairman, Winston Brassingtonmajor problems since then, unable to reach targets and sucking the little cash that GuySuCo had left.The power plant sale is widely seen as attempt to raise cash for GuySuCo after the Opposition objected to and questioned a $3B loan by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to the Ministry of Housing for the purchase of cane lands for house lots on East Coast Demerara.That transaction failed to go through.“It is time that sugar workers all over Guyana stand up for their rights and express their protest ýand demand an immediate and complete reversal of this transaction,” Badal urged.“How would anyone in their right mind contemplate such a foolish idea? The most competitive and efficient part of sugar production is its co-generation facilities providing its factories with reliable and cheap power. Without this supply the cost of power would increase an already uncompetitive cost of production of sugar.”He said that injecting US$30Mý into GuySuCo’s cash flow is a short term measure to pay creditors but the cost of sugar per tonne would forever be higher as Guysuco would now have to pay market rates for power.“To make matters worst, SEI power generation would now be managed by Wartsila. Why? The sugar estates have the best engineers I know who have all over the years managed Guysuco’s power generation as efficiently as one could imagine. Its boiler operators, power house operators are highly competent and reliable.“I have hired some of these operators and in my opinion they are the best available. Why the need for aGuySuCo’s Chairman, Dr. Rajendra Singhmanagement company? Why bring layers of bureaucracy by transferring ownership under GPL and its politically dominated and incompetent Board and Chairman, Winston Brassington?”Badal wanted to know whether the sale of the power plant was discussed with the unions and the sugar workers.“Why is this haste on a matter so far reaching for the industryý so close to the May 11 General Elections? Isn’t this move similar to the sale of CLICO’s shares in the Berbice Bridge to NIS, transferring the risk to the poor workers of Guyana to facilitate payment to PPP insiders just before the collapse of CLICO?”The businessman said that the cozy relationship of the PPP Government and its officers like Brassington with contractors, suppliers of equipment, inputs and services and creditors are well known to the Guyanese public.“The sale of GuySuCo’s power generation just prior to the election to pay creditors is too familiar and anyone who wants evidence of corruption should direct their attention to deals like these.”Badal believes that if GPL has excess cash, it should have extended a loan rather that disrupt the efficiency and low cost power generation at GuySuCo with long term increases in its cost.“ýMr Brassington and the PPP Government must be reminded that any excess cash held by GPL belong to the people of Guyana who have been overcharged for electricity for many years and that cash must be returned by means of lower rates rather than being used to cover their incompetence.”He criticized the cost of electricity from GPL which he said is too high. As a matter of fact, the savings came as a consequent of lower fuel prices on the international market and should have resulted in a 30 per cent reduction in electricity rates. ý“The private sector and all Guyanese must demand a 30 per cent reduction in the price of electricity.” |
