THE action by the combined Parliamentary Opposition to slash the subvention proposed for Guyana Power & Light (GPL) in the 2012 National Budget, is the result of a misunderstanding about what the money would have been expended on, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bharat Dindyal said. Speaking to the State media Thursday afternoon, he explained that the allocation, to the company by government, is used to pay for fuel and not facilitate the staffing cost.
Dindyal recalled that, during his Budget Presentation, Finance Minster Dr. Ashni Singh clearly stated that the $6 billion would be spent on payments for fuel.
But he believes that the slash in the provision was driven by a huge misunderstanding which was pointed out to the Opposition by Prime Minster Samuel Hinds during his explanation on Wednesday evening.
“Listening to the comments from the AFC last night, I think that there is a misunderstanding of what the money is going to be used for. I understood them to say that it was going to fund GPL’s high losses and I think, in the Budget Presentation, the Finance Minster was very clear that this was going to fund fuel,” Dindyal said.
He said meetings have been going on, between the Alliance for Change (AFC), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and President Donald Ramotar, to clarify the misconceptions and rectify the situation.
Dindyal maintained: “I thought there was a misunderstanding of what the subvention was for, which drove the call for the motion and I know there are talks going on with the Opposition and the President and there has been a misunderstanding. That is what precipitated this and, listening to the Prime Minster last night, I think that they did understand that there was a misunderstanding.”
According to Dindyal, the door is left open for the supplementary. However it is his hope that the prices for fuel would decrease and there would not be a need for any more money.
“I’m hoping that fuel prices don’t stay as high as they are and then we shouldn’t have the need for the money,” he stated.
Dindyal insisted that the subvention is never used to facilitate the staffing cost at GPL and, as such, it will have no bearing on the company’s staffing structure.
“The subvention was for the fuel and not staff cost …GPL continues to review its staff strength and structure and, if, in fact, we determine there is room for right-sizing, well then we will engage our union and tell them why there is a need for right-sizing and the implementing,” he repeated.