THE BOARD of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) continues to expand, and its Chairman, Robert Badal and member, Komal Ramnauth, were officially instituted by the Ministers of Public Infrastructure, Honourable David Patterson and Honourable Annette Ferguson.The inductions took place on February 5, 2016, and both men were urged to deal with the pressing matters facing GPL as quickly as possible. During the simple ceremony, Minister Patterson expressed hope for an early board meeting. He further indicated that important matters, including procurement and loss reduction, must be at the top of the agenda. He added that loss reduction was one of the complaints the company faced most.
Minister Patterson further said that the new board must guard against emergencies and must focus on better planning and execution of tasks.
In response, Chairman Badal emphasised that stringent steps must be taken to increase the company’s efficiency. Those steps, he said, must include the stamping out of corruption from within. “With a new vision and culture, everyone will fall in line,” he said.
Ramnauth added that the board would work on fostering better relationships from the top down.
Meanwhile, Minister Ferguson urged the board to look into electricity theft. “Come up with innovative ideas; come up with a plan,” Minister Ferguson stressed. She continued, “Internally, we must do better.”
She further emphasised that “at the end of the day, not only GPL must win, both customers and GPL must benefit.”
Additionally, both Ministers urged the men to create policies to tackle areas not served and to expand GPL’s reach. The Ministers added that GPL must focus on bearing the cost of those expansions since it had a responsibility to the people of Guyana. They stressed that, in this modern age, persons should not be living without electricity.
“We must have an expansion programme; GPL has a national responsibility to the people,” Minister Patterson stressed.
Badal and Ramnauth’s inductions came a few days after other board members of GPL were officially instituted. Ramnauth was nominated by the Private Sector Commission (PSC). The other members are Denise Simmons; Leslie Ramalho; Abiola Wong-Innis; Morsha Johnson-Francis; Tara Singh; and Dr. Mahender Sharma.