Cabinet report: WASA overstaffed by 3,000 employees

Scores of WASA employees gather at a muster point on the grounds of the authority on Farm Road, St Joseph on March 2 during an emergency evacuation after a fire alarm went off. The employees returned to work when the all clear was given. A Cabinet sub-committee report states the authority is overstaffed by 3,000. PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB -
Scores of WASA employees gather at a muster point on the grounds of the authority on Farm Road, St Joseph on March 2 during an emergency evacuation after a fire alarm went off. The employees returned to work when the all clear was given. A Cabinet sub-committee report states the authority is overstaffed by 3,000. PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB -

One of the first tasks of the interim management team to restructure the Water and Sewerage Authority will be to revert to the approved organisational structure, which will mean weaning off more than half of its 4,800 workforce.

It will also significantly streamline the management structure.

According to the report of the Cabinet sub-committee which was appointed to review the operations of WASA the organisation is operating in excess of the 1999 Cabinet-approved structure by more than 3,152 employees.

The 185-page report which was laid in the House on Friday said "WASA’s current organisation structure is complex, confusing and does not support a consistent logic, causing the Authority to be dysfunctional in its entirety."

The 1999 Cabinet-approved structure calls for four levels of leadership and a complement of 172 employees but WASA’s current top management structure includes eight levels: directors, heads, senior managers, managers, assistant managers, section managers, unit managers and supervisors, totalling 426 employees or approximately 248 per cent in excess of the approved structure.

The 1999 approved structure also listed 1,723 employees but the organisation has 4,828 (3,043 monthly paid and 1,785 daily paid).

The committee found "WASA’s leadership is exceedingly top-heavy and possesses an injudiciously long chain of command, which is twice that of the standard acceptable norm of 3-4 levels."

There have been previous attempts "to rein in WASA’s seemingly limitless staff numbers" but after a costly voluntary separation exercise to cut employees from 4,700 to 2,500 staff numbers ballooned to over 5,000 five years later.

"To date, management is unable to identify and differentiate between the employees who received VSEP packages in 2012- 2015 and those who were hired/ re-hired between 2012-2015. The VSEP was conducted in the absence of an optimal organisation design and therefore the end result should come as no surprise."

WASA chairman and executive director Dr Lennox Sealy referred to the reversion to the Cabinet-approved structure of the organisation during an interview on i95.5 FM, on Saturday, as one of the priority items and then getting the right people to fill the posts, which will likely see existing experienced employees and foreign experts.

Sealy said since his appointment as executive director on March 1, he had been on the ground meeting with groups of workers and welcomed their recommendations to restructure the company. He said getting buy-in from employees was one of the best ways to transform a company.

He said an integrated approach was necessary where citizens protect the natural water courses so that the organisation can do a better job in producing a reliable water supply.

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales, who also spoke on i95.5 FM, said over the last 15 years government had pumped over $28 billion into WASA without seeing an improvement in the availability of water to citizens.

Although WASA was not producing sufficient water and was in insurmountable debt, it paid hefty bonuses to staff, racked up significant overtime bills, hired hosts of contractors and supported a corrupt water-trucking delivery service.

According to the committee's report: "By all international accounting standards, WASA is insolvent. Unless financially supported by the Government, the Authority is unable to meet its basic monthly operating expenses as well as debt servicing obligations."

Government spends approximately $2 billion annually in subventions, half of which is used to pay salaries.

"Further reductions in subventions are required during the next five years so as to wean the Authority off the government’s coffers and make the organisation more self-sufficient," the committee observed and suggested a clear plan to remove the country’s reliance on desalinated water, particularly in the area of potable water.

WASA pays close to $50 million a month (US$7 millon) to Desalcott for water produced by the Pt Lisas plant and has an existing contract until 2036. Another desalination plant operated by Seven Seas Water Corporation produced water Pt Fortin industrial customers at a rate of US$15 million per year.

On the issue of providing truck-borne supply, the committee found "a thriving, parallel and illegal water trucking service, where hapless, desperate customers are willing to pay up to$400 for a truck-borne water supply."

It stated that one of the most vexing complaints against WASA "continues to be the timeliness and quality of road restoration works. WASA’s high level of pipeline leaks (2,755 leaks per month) forces the Authority to undertake excavation works on road and drainage infrastructure daily."

A recommendation has been made for this responsibility to be shifted to the Ministry of Works as the restoration work by WASA was "more often than on sub-standard" and the company had to hire contractors.

The committee also found that there is "an urgent need to implement a more realistic utility rates" for both water and electricity but noted "that the upward adjustment of these rates is an extremely sensitive issue and can be expected to elicit strong reactions among the population, given the acknowledged deficiencies in the quality of service provided by these utilities, especially WASA."

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