“Reminiscing and Walking the Talk” – The Theme for 2012

“Reminiscing and Walking the Talk” – The Theme for 2012.

The roles and responsibilities of Druk Green have been increasing ever so fast over the last couple years as every effort is being made to undertake as many of the Objectives of the Company as elucidated in the Articles of Incorporation that created Druk Green. These objectives were derived from the all-encompassing Vision that Druk Green would “harness and sustain Bhutan’s renewable energy resources” and with that the accompanying comprehensive Missions as enshrined in the Strategy Plans clearly set forth the expectations of the Shareholder and the Government for Druk Green to ultimately maximize the wealth of the country through its operations.

From the first day of its creation, Druk Green has left no stones unturned in effectively discharging its roles and responsibilities. Druk Green has made every effort to cash in on its strengths and to address its weaknesses so as to optimally use its resources. Druk Green has been striving for better performance levels and overall to set a benchmark for Good Corporate Governance in Bhutan and in the region.

Much has been said about the success of Druk Green and on how such that success ultimately depended on enhancing the capacity of the human resources that Druk Green inherited from the erstwhile power plants and those that Druk Green is tirelessly endeavoring to recruit, train and bring into the folds of the Company. The achievements though have been a mix bag for Druk Green as far as ground realities are concerned. The Company has managed to greatly enhance the capacity of its human resources, especially in the field of projects management and construction. Druk Green has also greatly strengthened the management of its finances and human resources, and has managed to integrate information technology in its various systems greatly easing the delivery of its services. On the flip side, the capacity building in human resources, both in terms of the actual capacity and the numbers, has not kept up with the requirements as projected if Druk Green is to play a key role in the acceleration of hydropower development in Bhutan as mandated.

A lot of efforts and funding has gone into human resources capacity building within Druk Green. The Board has been very understanding of the funds that are being used for such capacity building measures. The Company is also fully cognizant of the fact that Druk Green has a very young team of engineers, and finance and human resources managers. During 2011, a number of the younger lot of Druk Green’s officers had to take on responsibilities of Heads of Plants, Divisions and Units, and the trend is only likely to continue as Druk Green’s operations expand rapidly.

The pace of expansion in the operations of Druk Green will increase manifold during 2012 with at least two of the four mega hydroelectric projects to be implemented in joint venture with Government of India Public Sector Undertakings likely to commence construction, the pace of construction of the Dagachhu project picking up, the construction of the Tsibjalumchhu Diversion Scheme likely to be started, and the Nikachhu project likely to move from investigations into implementation mode amongst a host of other activities. There will be a call on more of the younger officers to shoulder much higher levels of responsibilities and there will be even greater pressure to deliver. And in the process, many will be required to lead the way instead of following the pack.

This is what Druk Green has been preparing for over the last couple of years - to shoulder the higher responsibilities and meet the challenges head on. We started our preparations through getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, through working on the individual and on the team concepts of management, through working on the confidence levels and taking initiatives, through trying to understand your inner strengths and growing from within, and through trying to reinforce one’s convictions through reflection. It has been four years and we have come a long way but the way ahead is expected to be more challenging and difficult.

I stand by the fact that given the opportunities and the right environment, Bhutanese will excel in whatever is required of them to take on. As we look forward, I feel confident that we can take on the arduous tasks ahead of us and deliver results in keeping with the expectations of the Shareholder and the Government. Towards this, you can be rest assured that the management and the Board of Druk Green are fully backing you up.

In our last Annual Conference in early December 2011 which most of the senior managements of the Corporate Office and the Plants (albeit the fact that many have been with Druk Green only since the last one or two years) attended, we felt rejuvenated and assured that we had in place all the ingredients and the right environment for successfully implementing the vision, missions and mandates of Druk Green. At the Annual Conference, we agreed to reminisce on whatever we have learnt and experienced over the short period of time together, and apply these experiences and expertise in the effective and efficient implementation of the tasks ahead of us. We decided that the time had come for us to Walk the Talk and Not to Talk Only!

2012 is already on us. So lets Walk the Talk! And see what we have in store for us by the end of the year. I expect great things and achievements!

Happy New Year and a Wonderful Male Dragon Year to Everyone!