A car navigates its way past a precariously balanced pole amid downed power lines through Tayoo End off Marshall Road yesterday, as BPL came under fire for the slow pace of recovery efforts. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune staff
By SANCHESKA DORSETT
Tribune Staff Reporter
sdorsett@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Electrical Workers Union President Paul Maynard yesterday blasted the “coordinators” at Bahamas Power and Light for being “inefficient” and organising the “worst hurricane recovery effort” he has ever seen.
In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Maynard said if certain BPL officials had “listened to advice from the union” more areas of New Providence would have been restored and BPL’s restoration timeline would be significantly shorter.
In a statement on Monday, BPL said it could not give an exact time for full restoration, but the company expects most customers to be back on supply by the end of the week. However, Mr Maynard said “two to three weeks” is more realistic.
“They have these people up there, these coordinators, who do not know what they are doing,” Mr Maynard said.
“We should have been working from day one instead of doing assessment. The people should have been working and we wasted that entire day. We have a bunch of people that are now retired who are linesmen that could assist and we have people who have equipment who could have helped.
“We should have engaged all of them and coordinated it properly. If we did, we would have been further than this. This is the worst coordination I have ever seen. Those coordinators are off base and a lot of it is arrogance. They don’t want to listen to anyone and they believe they know everything.”
Mr Maynard said going forward, “once the coordinators are changed” and “protocol is followed,” power should be restore in about two or three weeks. He said he is meeting with management at BPL today, to see if any “adjustments” will be made.
On Monday, BPL said electricity was restored to just over 50 per cent of its customers in New Providence and restoration in the Family Islands was “substantially” complete.
BPL also said it expects restoration efforts to ramp up significantly when assistance from international partners arrives on the island. BPL has sourced help from the Caribbean Association of Electric Utilities, which is sending at least three teams to the island.
The first team will arrive on Wednesday, BPL said.
Many residents in New Providence have been without power supply for a week, as a result of Hurricane Matthew.
BPL has said its teams are working 16-hour shifts and will not stop until power is fully restored.
Comments
John 7 years, 6 months ago
Foreign is better remember? Why did they not bring in extra help. What happens when the local workers become fatigued and their productivity declines or they start making mistakes? The process of restoring power becomes even more drawn out. Y'all ain't serious!
B_I_D___ 7 years, 6 months ago
"the “worst hurricane recovery effort” he has ever seen."
Maybe he should recall when the worst STORM he has ever seen has been...Nassau has not been hit this bad in decades.
jackbnimble 7 years, 6 months ago
I do not think 50% of New Providence has light. More like 20%.
DreamerX 7 years, 6 months ago
The union is just trying to take a stab to remain relevant.
This was the worst storm in maybe a decade to make a direct hit on New Providence.
And maybe in your backwards views you just pull in several people with out proper contracts, experience or health status information to verify these "retired" persons remain able to perform such actions. What of the insurance of the persons and the private vehicles? BPL has been determined to remove the backwards idea of undocumented/uncontrolled uses of persons or private property in their operations. What the union is complaining about, is that their old union members now hungry from the buffet of benefits they received while at BEC are all pissy they don't get to get a piece of this Mathew recovery pie. And when an incident occurred with the above suggestions, he would then have slammed BPL for not proceeding properly. The union have become anathema to progress.
sheeprunner12 7 years, 6 months ago
Why is Maynard throwing BPL under the bus?????? .......... Maynard more than the ordinary citizen seems not to have a clue on the work involved in clearing away mangled electrical infrastructure and replanting and restringing thousands of poles, stays, connections and transformers ....... if it was that easy anyone could do it ........... it would take at least TWO months to get 100% electrical supply in NP to every residence .......... why do ignorant people expect miracles????? ............ how many work crews from CEDERA are participating?????? .............. Where was Maynard when the local BEC workers and a handful of EMERA/CARICOM volunteers were working day and night on Long Island last year after Joaquin??????? ........... Maynard STFU
observer2 7 years, 6 months ago
Besides the horrible BEC customer service I am paying between my generator, high power costs, work disruption and ruined electrical equipment my business is suffering over $50,000 in cost. Compare this with my Florida Power and Light bill of under $2,000 per annum.
Have made the decision to stop working in Nassau as electrical costs are killing small businesses. Will sell out if there are any buyers and move.
lazybor 7 years, 6 months ago
good decision
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sheeprunner12 7 years, 6 months ago
If you are a Bahamian, that is a sad admission ........ if you are a foreigner, it also says a lot about your decision
viewersmatters 7 years, 6 months ago
BPL performance is way below standard they spent all day watching a slanted pole for more than 8 hours just to put some yellow tape on the wire, their presence aren't being felt in many places and they are very ineffective, rather they don't want work or they want wait until ot kicks in before they actually start to touch just one pole. These people don't care one bit that families are suffering in the heat n darkness more to that women who just had babies are being punished too! Everything that had to do with the PLP is a complete damn failure. Fire BPL they are worthless pieces of shyt that's not worth shyt in a paper bag!😠
sheeprunner12 7 years, 6 months ago
They are our family, friends and lovers as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ........... BOL
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 6 months ago
None of the comments above show any understanding of the reality of the situation. The U.S. company hired to manage the aged assets of the former BEC (i.e. old poorly maintained and inadequate power generating equipment plus unsatisfactory power distribution system in many areas) have their hands tied by the corrupt Christie-led PLP government. The management company is not responsible for providing the financing necessary to replace and/or upgrade the unsatisfactory and improperly maintained equipment and grid lines that were previously very poorly managed by representatives of the corrupt Christie-led PLP government. Christie and his merry band of bandits have failed in their undertaking made to the U.S. management company that adequate financing would be obtained by the PLP government to replace and/or upgrade the aged assets of the former BEC. But Perry Christie, true to form, has demonstrated his incompetency by failing to put in place an appropriate means of raising the financing for asset upgrades and replacement assets Pamela Hill has told Christie time and time again are absolutely vital in order for Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) to meet our country's electrification needs. Christie knew his government (and the previous Ingraham-led government) had run BEC right into the ground making it impossible for his government to continue managing BEC without considerable political fall out. So what does he do? Christie decides to hire a U.S. management company to manage the former aged assets of BEC under the false pretense that his government would immediately be arranging for adequate financing to put BPL in a good position to meet their management mandate of ensuring a reliable power supply to customers. But this has not happened and now Christie seeks to use BPL/Pamela Hill to absorb the political fall out that should be inflicted on him personally.....Christie has actually now told Pamela Hill that part of her job is to take the political heat for the inadequacies of BPL that are in fact attributable to Christie's own failure to raise the financing necessary for the capital needs of BPL. All of the blame for BPL's shortcomings in restoring power to its customers in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew properly rest with Christie himself and no one else. Pamela Hill should no longer allow herself to be wrongfully used by Christie as a punching bag for the ferocious blows of public discontentment that should be squarely falling on him personally!
MonkeeDoo 7 years, 6 months ago
They just burned up one of the new rental units. Motobike !
tyronecarrol 7 years, 6 months ago
Listen my people, this is not the time to place blame or complain so early in this current crisis, we need to work together, that the only way we gonna make it through. The same God that
has protested us through the storm will take us to the promise land. Just stop complaining and put your hands to the plow, and He, God, will make us a nation that the world will envy, so be strong. I recalled over a decade ago a minister warned that this was going to happen to The Bahamas, and it did exactly the way he said it would. The good news he said, at the end The Bahamas will be a model for other nations to follow. Give God the praise and the glory He deserves.
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