President to initial GEC agreements next week
by Gitanjali Singh
The Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC) deal is set for closure on August 31, when the Guyana Government and the UK-based consortium will initial all the schedules accompanying the deal in Georgetown. President Bharrat Jagdeo is expected to preside over the ceremony, which will mark a significant milestone for the privatisation process in Guyana. The official operational and financial closing of the transaction will take place before the end of September as the consortium--the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC)/Electricity Sector Board International (ESBI)--is now trying to harness its 14-man management team for relocation to Guyana. Owing to the way in which the deal is configured, an official signing will not be feasible until the CDC/ESBI has its management team on the ground in Guyana, as a number of legal provisions will become effective and the company will automatically assume financial responsibilities from the day the signatures are appended. Two senior officials of the consortium responsible for the transaction, Jim Romanos of the CDC and John Lynn of ESBI, were in Guyana last week tying up loose ends. Head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, leaves for Washington today where all the advisers for the two sides are meeting to ensure that everything needed in the relevant schedules to the agreements has been concluded. Representing the government is Brassington and lawyer, Paul Reichler and associates. Brassington is due back over the weekend and is expected to alert the government that all would be well for an initialling ceremony signifying that agreements had been reached which would culminate in a deal. This is the government's second attempt to privatise the power company and it has not been trouble free, with the opposition parties refusing to throw their weight behind the deal contending that it has not been a transparent process. However, the government over the past two days has published eight full pages of advertisement in the two daily newspapers on the proposed transaction, contending that confidentiality was necessary to conclude the negotiations. The new company, Guyana Power and Light Incorporated, is expected to become operational before the end of September with the consortium in financial and management control in a 50-50 joint venture with the government.
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