No plans to privatize the Water & Sewage Authority: Marvin Gonzales

Trinidad and Tobago: Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzale stated that “there are no plans to privatize the Water and Sewage Authority.”

The Public Utilities Minister confirmed that WASA has been failing on various fronts as a company. Marvin Gonzale says that’s why the industry is being restructured and re-engineered at all stages.

“The administration is of the view that any restructuring or reconstitution of the Water and Sewerage Authority must begin and must be driven from the management level,” he added.

“There are other serious and deep-seated institutional disputes,” the minister points out. “From a financial viewpoint, an HR perspective, technology, the operations area, the potential to drill for new water to bring into the grid these are all problems we must attack, as well. 

Nevertheless, we cannot undertake these without a team of administrators that shares the vision of the regime to bring about the level of transformation needed.”

Furthermore, he added, “administration is of the view that we need a strong team of directors to help drive the level of transformation from within the organization.”

Minister Gonzales announces one of the government’s first things is evaluating the state company’s human resources.

“The first order of business is to handle a very in-depth HR audit and to identify those areas of over-employment,” he stated.

“You also have to keep it in mind that as we attempt to transform and re-engineer an organization, it generates additional employment opportunities. Bringing about modern developments and incorporating new technologies will create several chances for young people, especially in ICT and software development, among others,” he said.

The Public Utilities Minister states the sole purpose of WASA’s transformation is to guarantee the company can bring water into the taps of all communities across the nation.

Richard Moniz commented, “We have to think out of the box with water supply solutions. We must harness the untapped water in the northern range with small multi-purpose dams. The main product would be water with small hydroelectric generators that can be utilized. These would supply these remote areas and feed into both the water and electrical grids. Start with the project. This can be duplicated in Tobago.” 

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