Former Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Metering Manager – Loss Reduction, Wayne Watson has been appointed the new General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC).
According to the Public Works Ministry on Saturday, Watson was appointed with immediate effect by subject Minister Juan Edghill, following the recommendation of the DHBC Board of Directors.
Watson is the holder of a Master’s Degree in Strategic Engineering from the Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Guyana and has over 10 years of managerial and engineering experience in the power sector.
Newly appointed DHBC General Manager, Wayne Watson
His core competencies include strategic thinking, integrated reporting, budgeting and forecasting, governance and risk management, ethics and professionalism, stakeholders relationship management, procurement and supply chain management, project management and team building and performance management.
Watson served in the positions of Loss Reduction Metering Manager, Loss Reduction Operations Manager, Assistant Engineer 1, Loss Reduction Operations Manager and Electrical Engineer.
He is also the holder of several other academic certificates.
Rawlston Adams stepped down amid a major scandal whereby taxpayers’ monies were spent to purchase extravagant gifts for senior Government officials.
Days prior to Adams’ resignation, Edghill had warned that persons will be held accountable for the gift-buying spree which occurred at the DHBC.
Former GM Rawlston Adams has been charged for conspiracy to defraud
An audit into the asphalt plant (which falls under the DHBC) found that $424,700 of taxpayers’ money was spent to purchase a hand band for former Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, who is Edghill’s predecessor.
Additionally, a sum of $76,300 was spent to purchase a tie pin for the former Minister. Based on the records, the gifts were purchased for Patterson’s birthday celebration in 2017.
The investigation into the operations of the asphalt plant also revealed that Adams had spent in excess of $800,000 to purchase a bracelet for himself.
It further noted that gifts were also given to all other men within the Corporation, to an approximate value of $10,000 each, to mark the occasion of International Men’s Day.
Meanwhile, both Adams and Patterson were also charged in January and are currently before the courts in relation to the sole-sourcing of a company to design a new Demerara Harbour Bridge.
They were granted $200,000 bail each for the joint charge of conspiracy to defraud.
The charges were brought by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) after both men were hauled in for questioning.
Patterson was once cleared in 2019 by investigators from SOCU when it comes to the sole-sourced $62 million contract to Dutch company Lievense CSO for the design and feasibility study of the new Demerara River bridge.
But both the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and the Auditor General had red-flagged Patterson for requesting from the then Cabinet that the feasibility contract be sole-sourced instead of being processed through the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
The PPC had found that after the bidding process was annulled because of non-responsive bidders, NPTAB had approved for the project to be re-tendered.
