GONZALES MEETS INCOMING CEO OF WASA

CCNTV6

The Public Utilities Minister has met with the incoming Chief Executive Officer of the Water and Sewerage Authority.  However, in response to questions from TV6 News, the Minister said both he and the incoming WASA  CEO have agreed to keep their discussion confidential in order to allow for a smooth transition of  the utility’s executive leadership.  Juhel Browne reports.

Transcript

00:00Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzalez announced via Facebook post

00:04accompanied by two photos that he quote, had the opportunity to greet and engage

00:09in insightful conversations with Mr. Keith Roy Halliday, the incoming chief

00:14executive officer of WASA, end quote, at the 33rd Caribbean Water and Wastewater

00:19Conference and Exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.

00:23Minister Gonzalez said also present for the insightful conversations were Mark

00:29Barnett of the National Water Commission of Jamaica and former

00:33president of the CWWA and Mr. Alston Fournier, deputy chairman of WASA. During

00:40the budget debate in the House of Representatives on October 14th, Minister

00:44Gonzalez faced a question from opposition MP Rudranath Indarasinghe about

00:48a reduction in the cost of contract employment at WASA from $466.5

00:54million dollars in fiscal 2024 to an estimated $399.9 million dollars for

01:01fiscal 2025. We are currently restructuring and streamlining the

01:05executive leadership of the Water and Sewerage Authority and that we anticipate

01:10at the end of this exercise the Water and Sewerage Authority will not carry

01:14that huge bill of 66 or 399 million dollars annually for contract

01:20employment and thank you and that does not mean retrenchment in any way. TV6

01:26News is sent a question to the Public Utilities Minister on whether the

01:30incoming CEO of WASA indicated any areas of priority when he takes up the top

01:35executive job at the authority on December 1st during their discussion at

01:40the conference at the Hyatt Regency on Monday. Minister Gonzalez told TV6 News

01:45that both he and Mr. Halliday have agreed to keep their discussion in

01:49strict confidence in order to allow for a smooth transition of executive

01:54leadership in the coming months. Minister Gonzalez further said Mr. Halliday's

01:58area of key priority will be guided by his terms of engagement and the

02:03approved strategic plan of the Board of Commissioners of WASA. On August 30th

02:08WASA announced that Mr. Halliday who is from St. Kitts and Nevis will assume

02:13office as the new CEO of WASA on November 1st but recently stated his

02:18first day on the job would be on December 1st. WASA has said that Mr.

02:22Halliday is the former general manager of the Barbados Water Authority a

02:27position he held for the past seven years. On Monday in response to a

02:31question from TV6 News Minister Gonzalez said the incoming CEO is

02:36representing the Barbados Water Authority at the 33rd Caribbean Water

02:41and Wastewater Conference and Exhibition. Minister Gonzalez said the delegation he

02:46is leading is from WASA. The Public Utilities Minister told TV6 News that

02:50the conference is an annual one of regional ministers of government with

02:54responsibility for water and waste management, experts, policymakers in the

02:59sectors assessing the progress being made in the sectors emerging from

03:04previous meetings in the Bahamas and Guyana. The theme this year is a

03:09collective regional action towards a climate resilient water secured and

03:14zero water Caribbean. The Public Utilities Minister said senior officials

03:18from the IDB, CAF and the World Bank are also in attendance. Minister Gonzalez

03:24said that the feature speaker for the opening ceremony is acting Prime

03:27Minister Stuart Young. Jule Brown TV6 News

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