[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) today refuted allegations that millions of dollars are forfeited annually to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company and Cable Operators. GPL says this determination is a concoction by the local daily newspaper that carried an article to that effect.
In a release, the utility company recalled that the article indicated, “GPL cannot accurately state now, how many of its poles are being used by other parties.” To this end, GPL’s CEO said it was untrue and claimed that the Reporter was never advised “of the rental fee being charged and explained why during the interview. Without knowing the number of poles being used and the annual rental, Kaieteur News determined that it had to be millions.”
GPL observed too that “the second paragraph of the article was written in a way to construe that the CEO confirmed that GPL was losing millions annually,” adding that “this may have been deliberate to achieve the real designs of the article.”
GPL says too that during the interview, no mention was made of E-Networks, “therefore mention of this entity in the article was also the result of Kaieteur News’ engineering. The fact is that GPL has four Agreements with E-Networks for pole rental. These Agreements were executed on January 16, 2012, March 16, 2012, March 11, 2013 and May 15, 2013 and are valid for three years.”
At the weekend, E – Networks also refuted reports contained in the article. According to a statement issued by E – Networks, these Licence Agreements, dating from January 2012, grant use of utility poles by E-Networks Inc. in Georgetown and East Coast Demerara, in exchange for a rental fee – a sum to the tune of millions of dollars paid by E-Networks to date – for a period until May, 2016.
“Such Agreements have been honoured and upheld by both parties, and further negotiations are even underway for the extension of the coverage area,” the statement noted.
According to the statement, the allegations have caused a negative perception of the company in the public eye.
