– project manager says minor delays faced not costing taxpayers a cent
manager Alexei Ramotar
The Gy$32 million e-governance project which is being piloted and implemented by the government of Guyana is on track and is scheduled to be completed by April this year, before officially being handed over in August, despite several challenges faced at various levels of the advanced stages of its roll-out.
In fact, the minor setbacks have resulted in Guyanese being able to benefit from a highly technological and advanced e-governance project that will revolutionise the manner in which government offers critical services to the public, while reducing tremendously the time associated in accessing information and doing business with the government.
This is the position of the project manager Alexei Ramotar, who also fended off several attacks and misinformation being spread about the project and his competence to carry it to completion.
Personal attacks
Ramotar, in an exclusive interview on Television Guyana’s (TVG 28) flagship ‘Current Issues and Analysis’ show, explained that he had no problems with questions being asked about the project by any stakeholder in society, including parliamentarians.
He did, however, express disappointment at what appeared to be personal attacks being made on his credentials and a project which would advance the information communication technology sector of Guyana.
“We have had a few delays in which we have changed technologies,” he explained, stating that other challenges to this component of the overall project ranged from adverse weather conditions and the “usual project issues”.
“We have pushed it back, the handing over to August 2014. However, we expect all the parts to be finished by April 2014, we are on track for that and the April to August period is where we will be doing a lot of testing, and optimisation of the network and so forth. These are very standard things that happen in telecoms,” he stated.
Asked whether that decision was expected to cost the taxpayers of Guyana any additional funds, he responded in the negative, stating that the project was well within its budget. He opined that there appears to be a lack of understanding about the project, its design and the overall complexities that implementing such a diverse project would entail, on the part of some critics.
Minor challenges
Meanwhile, Ramotar has revealed that there is another component to the overall project which is the dense wavelength division multiplexing aspect that comes at a cost of US$5 million. Some setbacks were experienced with this part of the project, and the shortcomings are currently being addressed. This component of the initiative aims to provide Internet access.
He said that there was no problem with the overall design of this aspect of the project but rather there were some challenges experienced in the roll out, mainly the laying of the fibre-optic cables in some communities. Ramotar explained that when those problems were noticed, swift action was taken to ensure that they were corrected and advice sought on possible remedies that would not impact the expected completion of the initiative significantly. A third-party consultant from Venezuela, who worked in DWDM fibre projects has also given expert advice on the design of the project.
The Venezuelan consultant, he disclosed, is expected to come up with recommendations on solutions that after working through the November to December period on the project.
Experience, qualification
Ramotar, who appeared fully knowledgeable of all aspects of the project he is managing, said he was competent to complete the job. He is the holder of master’s degree in computer science from the University of Waterloo and also has a first degree from the University of Guyana.
Additionally, he has extensive experience in the field, having worked at the Guyana Sugar Corporation and Digicel Guyana.
He has since denied being the recipient of a Gy$3 million salary per month and revealed that while that type of salary is offered to man similar projects in the developed world, he gets Gy$650,000. There are no additional benefits and entitlements that come with the job.
Ramotar has not objected to any of the questions asked by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in Parliament, but offered that the project is fully transparent and open for all to see.
