2,000 prepaid meters to be installed during pilot project
- City areas, Black Bush Polder targeted
Georgetown, GINA, May 7, 2009
Sections of Kitty, North Ruimveldt, and Bourda Market and Black Bush Polder in Region Six are some of the areas earmarked to benefit from the prepaid meter pilot project of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
Some 2,000 meters are to be installed and the power company has already embarked on a number of community engagements as it prepares to pilot the new technology which offers loss reduction advantages.
The prepaid meter which GPL intends to use as a replacement for the traditional meters, is similar in operation of a prepaid cellular service since consumers purchase power in the form of credits from a vendor.
The new technology is the latest in prepaid service, and according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL Bharrat Dindyal, it allows customers to carefully manage their electricity.
“It allows you to manage your electricity in cases where persons find it difficult to pay an entire month’s bill at one time, it allows them to purchase electricity and use it in small amounts as the cash flow would allow,” Dindyal explained.
The Company’s CEO said discussions have already been held with vendors who will be facilitating the sale of electricity and GPL is hopeful that by June, these stakeholders will complete the necessary Information Technology (IT) arrangements.
Additionally, both GPL and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company are required to have some supporting infrastructure in place, all of which should be ready prior to the installation of the meters.
A prepaid meter is a device which consists of a display unit that is setup in the house and is interconnected to a central meter established on an electric pole.
The consumer wishing to purchase power approaches the vendor/seller and discloses a number that is assigned to the consumer’s house meter. The consumer is then given a code that is linked to the meter number.
In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA) Dindyal explained that the code is specific to the consumer’s meter and that it cannot be used on any other in event that it is stolen or misplaced.
The consumer is then required to enter the code into the display unit inside the house and indicate the quantity of power needed.
The technology also has a wide range of features such as a built in alarm mechanism, an electricity duration indicator and other services that would update the customer on a timely basis.
Dindyal said “emergency power cards” will also be introduced, which would allow the consumer to have emergency power electricity if his/her credit has come to an end.
In the last quarter of this year, GPL also intends to install another 2,000 prepaid meters.
TOP
Exhibition in Honour of Indentured Immigrants Declared Opened Today
Georgetown, GINA, May 07, 2009
May marks the 174th anniversary of indentured immigrants coming to Guyana and to mark the event, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is hosting a week-long exhibition at the National Museum.
Under the theme ‘Guyana! A Multi-cultural Society and the evolution of a Guyanese people’, the exhibition was officially opened today for public viewing by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony addresses the gathering at the Indentureship Exhibition, at the Guyana National Museum
Clothing, cooking utensils, figurines, and a replica of a ‘logie’ are among a number of items that are being showcased at the museum.
Addressing the gathering, comprising of mostly school children and teachers, Minister Anthony said that museums should not be a static place; instead they should act as a purveyor of knowledge. He alluded to the significant increase in the number of visitors over the years, and he noted that this medium has been successful in doing just that, conveying knowledge.
Section of the gathering at the Indentureship exhibition, National Museum
The Minister emphasized that while it is recognized that the majority of immigrants were of East Indian descent, focus needs to be placed on the indentureship of the Chinese, Portuguese, Africans and Europeans as they all contributed to adding different dimensions to the country’s highly diverse culture.
The Minister further stated that this period should be seen "as a period of reflection, reflecting on the sacrifices of our ancestors.” He reiterated that by learning more of the struggles of indentureship and the experiences of Guyanese ancestors they might be able to get a better understanding of themselves as a people, and to be more inclusive of each other’s culture.
Dr. James Rose, Chairman, National Trust, delivering a lecture prior to the opening of the Indentureship Exhibition, National Museum
Historian and the Chairman of National Trust Dr. James Rose gave a very detailed lecture on the terms of the skewed system of indentureship and how similar it was to that of enslavement. He noted that out of the 283,000 immigrants that came only 75,000; which is a total 30 percent, returned to their homeland.
The Portuguese immigrants came to Guyana in 1835 followed by the East Indians in 1838, liberated Africans in 1841 and the Chinese in 1853.
TOP
Land use planning to be further developed
Georgetown, GINA, May 7, 2009
Land use planning is an integral part of the process of national growth and development as it helps to promote sustainable and equitable land management. Government has been instituting measures to ensure that land therefore, is utilized efficiently to get the best return.
Part of the recently signed €55M (euros), 10th European Development Fund (EDF), by Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh and Head of the European Commission (EU) to Guyana Geert Heikens, will see €3M (euros) being provided to the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) for the further development of land use planning.
The land use project will provide technical assistance to the GLSC in the areas of regional planning, mapping and database management, improvement of interaction and linkages among the GLSC, external agencies and stakeholders and will also facilitate the harmonization of planning legislation.
Technical assistance will be focused on improving the methodologies and procedures used by the GLSC and also to enhance available resources.
It is expected under this plan that additional regional land use plans will be completed to complement those already prepared by the agency for Regions Three, Four and Six.
With the aim of improving linkages between the GLSC and external agencies, the role of the GLSC will be strengthened in the preparation and coordination of strategic plans for all Regions.
In addition, technical assistance will be provided to assist the GLSC to harmonise conflicting and overlapping planning legislations and laws that currently affect the agency’s operations. It is expected that on completion of the project, the GLSC would have completed regional land use plans for the 10 administrative Regions, and be facilitated with appropriate legislation to fulfill its mandate.
The EU has always been an ardent contributor to Government’s on-going efforts to alleviate and reduce poverty, thereby helping to improve national livelihood, through various EDF initiatives that commenced over 30 years ago with the Lome conventions.
Presidential Adviser on land use Andrew Bishop noted that the intention is to have a national plan and at least three regional plans that will cover land use, stretching from land for forestry development, mining, eco-tourism, industrial, residential and agriculture, to drainage and irrigation.
Meanwhile, Minister Singh acknowledged the importance of a land use plan which he noted that government really needs to help it to plan effectively as it relates to infrastructural requirements for the country’s development strategy, including which industries are best for the region and residential development.
TOP
Sit-in at National Psychiatric Hospital ends
-Minister Ramsaran
Georgetown, GINA, May 07, 2009
Minister within the Ministry of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran has reported that the sit-in at the National Psychiatric Hospital, Fort Canje, Berbice has come to an end.
The Minister said that workers have since resumed duty following discussions with the administration where several concerns were immediately addressed.
These include provisions of improved lighting for the compound of the National Psychiatric Hospital and its environs, additional security personnel to work specifically in the nights and arrangements for physical renovation to strengthen security at the nurses’ stations.
Dr. Ramsaran noted that additional staff in recent months has been deployed to the hospital.
The Health Ministry, he said has embarked on a massive training programme for nurses.
The three nursing schools are currently training approximately 700 students. The auxiliary training programmes will commence shortly including in the areas of Rehabilitation Assistant, Environmental Health and Pharmacy Assistants, he said.
The Ministry is processing thousands of applications from all regions and has pressed into servicing additional clerical staff in an effort to speed up the processing of the large numbers of applications.
Dr. Ramsaran noted that his Ministry will continue to work with the union and staff to address concerns and improve working conditions.
On May 2, nurses at the National Psychiatric hospital staged a sit-in following an attack by a patient on five inmates at the institution.
Since the incident the Ministry along with unions, workers and the institution’s administration had entered into discussions to resolve the matter.
TOP
Gov’t indicates intention to sell GT&T shares
Georgetown, GINA, May 7, 2009
Government Representative on the Board of Directors of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company, Winston Brassington today said that Government has formally indicated to the Atlantic Tele Network (ATN) its intention to sell its 20 percent share in the local phone company.
Brassington made these remarks during an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN) following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
“We formally indicated to ATN that we would like to sell our 20 percent share in GT&T and we are first offering it to ATN. Should ATN decline to buy our shares we would then seek to sell it to third parties,” Brassington said.
He said Government has been contemplating this decision for a while now.
“We have indicated to ATN that if they wish not to buy our shares, then we reserve the right to sell it to third parties, GT&T is an extremely profitable company, last year the profit after tax exceeded $4B from the year before, so we believe that our shares are valuable.”
In addition to that disclosure, Brassington said that Government opposed the accounts of GT&T for last year on the basis that they did not consider the six percent advisory fee to be a legitimate expense.
Last year, he highlighted, following a number of questions on the advisory fee, Government abstained from voting on the accounts.
Brassington explained that the 1990 sale agreement with ATN and the Government of Guyana stated that management services may be provided by ATN or by its subsidiaries, provided that they are approved by the Board.
“We do not consider the advisory fees to be management services because despite inquires they have not been justified as representing legitimate management services; therefore we can’t conclude that any of those payments represents value for services rendered,” he contended.
He said that Government views the advisory fee, which is quite significant, as a distribution. Within the last five years, Brassington highlighted that over five billion dollars in advisory fees have been paid, averaging over a billion dollar per year.
“The company’s revenue last year exceeded $19B, and if you take 50 percent of that in the last 10 years it has been approximately $10B and since the privatisation of GT&T over $15B in advisory fees have been paid,” Brassington stated.
“We believe that the advisory fees should be treated below the line as the distribution. They would therefore not be eligible as a deductible expense, so taxes will have to be paid on the amount and The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) as a 20 percent shareholder on behalf of Government would be entitled to 20 percent of that,” he said.
TOP
IMF report projects 2.6% growth in Guyana’s real GDP
…global activity projected to contract by 1.3%
Georgetown, GINA, May 7, 2009
The April 2009 World Economic Outlook (WEO) which presents the International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff's analysis and projections of economic developments has projected that Guyana’s economy will grow by 2.604% in 2009, and by 3.448% in 2010. In contrast, “even with determined steps to return the financial sector to health and continued use of macroeconomic policy levers to support aggregate demand, global activity is projected to contract by 1.3% in 2009,” the report stated.
“Moreover, the downturn is truly global: output per capita is projected to decline in countries representing three-quarters of the global economy. Growth is projected to reemerge in 2010, but at 1.9 percent it would be sluggish”, the report continued.
The report also projects that the economies of Latin American and Caribbean countries will shrink by 1.5% as a result of the financial turbulence, slumping demand from advanced economies, especially the United States which is the largest trading partner for the region, and the resulting fall in commodity prices.
Guyana’s inflation rate for 2009 will be a modest 3.639%, and 4.975% in 2010, the IMF has projected.
With the global economic crisis continuing to have a severe impact on trade flows, many countries have found it difficult to establish credible economic targets and have frequently had to revised targets set.
Speaking on the report today at Parliament building, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, stated, “The projections contained in the outlook suggest that within the halls of those who do these sort of projections, there is the view that Guyana will continue to grow this year albeit somewhat more modestly than we have been growing in recent years.”
Guyana economy achieved real growth of 3.1 percent in 2008, following growth rates of 5.1 and 5.4 percent in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
“We have noted that this current issue of the regional economic outlook does suggest that while the Western Hemisphere, and in particularly Latin America and the Caribbean, have been significantly affected by the current global economic crisis, the analysis does suggest that there is evidence that domestic policy in some countries within the region will help these countries rebound from the crisis, and in some cases, to rebound a little bit earlier than has been anticipated,” Minister Singh stated.
“We believe that our domestic policy has provided us with some amount of cushion but our economy will inevitably face the consequences of what is going on globally. We remain, as a government, firmly committed to preserving and maintaining an appropriate policy environment that will lend itself to a minimizing of the effects that might emerge from the external environment.”
Government has continually focused, over the years, on maintaining macro-economic stability, and to reduce the effect that external volatility may have on the economy, has stressed the diversification of the economy away from the traditional sectors of sugar, rice and bauxite.
The $128.9B, 2009 National Budget, which was approved by the National Assembly on February 26 has projected that Guyana’s economy will grow by 4.7% in 2009 with inflation targeted at 5.2%.
TOP
Bill for negotiating and mediating workers’ disputes passed
Georgetown, GINA, May 7, 2009
After much heated debate the Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services Arbitration (Amendment) Bill, 2009 was passed in the National Assembly this evening. The Bill seeks to protect citizens by ensuring that workers involved in essential services are not allowed to strike.
Essential services include any health care or related service, any air traffic controllers; any service related to drainage and irrigation, cemetery or solid waste services of a municipality and any service essential to the continued provision of telecommunication.
The Bill stipulates that workers who are desirous of striking must first notify the Minister of Labour who will during a ten-day span try to resolve the issue. It also provides for a suitable mechanism for negotiating and mediating disputes.
Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir who tabled the Bill said it provides particular procedures by which workers in those sectors can strike. He said the changes were made to reflect today’s reality.
A tribunal consisting of five persons will be appointed by the Minister to arbitrate the dispute in the event that a resolution cannot be reached between the workers and their agencies.
He noted that the fines for breaching any provisions of the Act will now be $30,000 plus two months imprisonment. Previously the fine was $150. Persons who continue this offence will have to pay $1000 per every day that the breach continues.
People’s Progressive Party/Civic Member of Parliament, Norman Whittaker in supporting the Bill said it seeks to eliminate the need for strikes by ensuring that workers are able to enjoy better standards of living. He said it is an attempt to conform with what is happening internationally. Whittaker said the legislation is being enacted in Guyana to address public safety, noting that government has not altered the procedures for addressing trade disputes.
He said it is in keeping with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) definition of essential services.
People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) MP, Basil Williams told the House that the amendments would take away from workers their constitutional right to strike and impose criminal sanctions on workers who are deemed to be in breach of the amendment.
Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn said the Bill has nothing to do with taking away a worker’s right to strike.
He said protecting the national interest requires that mechanisms are in place to take care of the concerns of workers with respect to their conditions of employment but where essential services may be impaired and affect the entire health, safety or security of the public, the Administration must ensure that these are protected.
More than 72 countries have enacted similar legislation including India, Australia, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago.
TOP
|
