Continuing its thrust to create symbiotic and sustainable relationships within the industry and with other ministries, The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) and the Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (WASA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate and share learnings around critical functional activities common across both organisations.

Specifically, the MOU – which will span a period of one year - will allow both state entities to explore opportunities to cooperate in the following areas:

  • Asset integrity management - maintenance of pipeline and equipment, including relevant training

  • Automation system architecture and platform – Geospatial Information Services (GIS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and leak detection systems

  • Procurement – e-auctions and joint pipeline purchasing

  • Right-of-Way monitoring

  • Real-time reporting

  • Project management

  • Sustainability of operations

The intent behind this exemplary partnership is to capitalise on synergies within the public sector, to streamline and improve efficiency in state enterprise operations. NGC has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to share learnings from its business with other organisations - especially insights related to safety and sustainability - and this partnership enables the company to achieve those objectives.

Explaining NGC’s vision for this partnership, NGC President Mark Loquan shared: “NGC has always sought to make an impact beyond energy through our corporate social investments, but we recognised that we could do as much good by sharing our expertise and technology with other companies, to improve the services they deliver to our nation. WASA and NGC both manage extensive pipeline networks with similar systems, skillsets, and infrastructural and project requirements. Over our history, particularly in the last few years, we at NGC have strengthened key internal systems so we can now purchase smarter; visualise and monitor our assets more effectively; minimise service disruptions and reduce our environmental impact.”

“All the lessons we have learnt can be gainfully applied in the context of WASA’s business. We therefore see this MOU as a pathway for us to support a critical public utility undertaking its own journey of transformation. The ultimate goal, of course, is to help improve this indispensable public sector service for the benefit of all citizens.”

Speaking on behalf of WASA, its Chairman Mr. Ravindra Nanga stated, “We at the Water and Sewerage Authority welcome the signing of this landmark MOU with the National Gas Company. As we embark on transforming the Authority with the single goal of developing a robust and efficient network to serve our customers, the assistance that will be provided by NGC will go a long way in us being able to achieve that goal. As part of the transformation of the Authority, we have embarked on the extensive embracing of technology and the development of a smart water network. NGC is now able to provide us with a solid platform and provide much needed guidance that will allow us to make informed decisions as we proceed with the upgrade of our plant and equipment and the development of our technologically advanced network.

“NGC has in place technology to assist in maintaining and monitoring pipelines, which will greatly benefit the Authority, and move us from a position of operating in emergency mode, to a place where we will be able to undertake preventative maintenance and reduce disruptions in our supply. It is hoped that as we progress with our own transformation, we too will be able to provide assistance to NGC. We have already started to examine the impact of climate change on our ability to continue to provide a sustainable supply of water to the population and we are monitoring the effects of climate change on our current water supplies. We will share with NGC our findings and plans in this regard as NGC continues on its own green initiatives.”

NGC has been proactively engaging with government Ministries, state enterprises and industry partners to share knowledge and technology, and intends to continue that outreach to advance the agenda of sustainable national development. Both companies agree that this MOU comes at an opportune time and look forward to a long and mutually beneficially relationship that can only redound to the benefit of citizens.