Not ‘business as usual’ at BWA

NEWLY appointed general manager of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), Keithroy Halliday believes there can be a turnaround in the fortunes of the utility company.

Speaking to the Barbados Advocate yesterday, the general manager, who took over the post previously held by Dr. John Mwansa, is assuring Barbadians that he is up for the challenges facing the organisation, while stressing that it can no longer be business as usual at the BWA.

In fact, he is of the view that the BWA must be run like a business, while adding that the current financing model is unsustainable and must be revamped. He also noted the importance of the human resources of the company, 800 strong, whom he said are an extremely important cog in the wheel. Many of these personnel, he said, must be retrained and retooled to meet the changing needs of the company.

Halliday noted that while the official whom he replaces might have had strong engineering skills, he believes, with no disrespect intended, that the BWA was in need of a strong administrator to bring balance to the skill sets required to drive the organisation forward.

With a managing background in banking, as a former consultant and as an entrepreneur, Halliday described the BWA as a complex organism, one that is constantly evolving. To this end, he stressed that it is a lot more than just fixing pipes and carrying out upgrades.

While he has enjoyed his first three weeks on the job, he conceded that there are a number of challenges to be surmounted. He reiterated the unsustainability of the existing financial model. “To the point where we rely heavily on government subventions. How do we make sure we are making enough money to cover operational costs? Beyond that, how do we manage our financing, and investing activities, how do we fund it?

“So for instance, last year when we were stricken with the drought and all of the attendant issues and we were unable to source funding from anywhere. We had to rely on private to public partnerships. Given the situation, those were expensive partnership deals, but we had to undertake those deals because we had to ensure we were able to provide and deliver good quality potable water.”

The general manager also lamented the fact that very little had been done in the past to improve capital works arrangements to replace the mains distribution network, which is contributing to the level of non-revenue water on the island, otherwise known as leaks.

“The leakage we have had over the years has compounded our ability to efficiently supply the water that we would like to supply.”

He said a concerted effort will be made to change and improve communication externally and internally and being more forthright with what is happening at the BWA. “Communication has to be paramount as a significant part of our change and way forward,” he said.

Halliday, while speaking at the BWA Headquarters in the Pine, noted that the staff has been very receptive to his arrival. “I think they have been welcoming a particular kind of change. Again, this is nothing to do with individuals who have been here before or this is not to belittle their contribution, it is just that the BWA has faced a number of obstacles where people have felt a level of frustration. I think to some extent they felt lost.

“To have someone who can demonstrate with a level of confidence that there is a way out, if you look at it from a business perspective, these are the corrections that we make. We have to have some honest dialogue about the fact that this is the position we are in. And if this is the position we are in, these are the simplest routes and these are the things we have to do,” the general manager said. (JH)