A total of 2,174 voluntary retirement applications have already been received at the main office, with a few more expected from regional offices. The approved number of engineers currently at the board is 1,004, which is about 680 fewer than required. Of these, 70 have already gone abroad, and after the voluntary retirement of 78 engineers, the number will drop to 532, a senior official told ‘Irida Wewbima’ on Sunday.
Accordingly, the number of engineers will be significantly reduced, and the decline of experienced engineers could become a serious crisis, he noted. Due to this, the number of operating engineers at some power plants may decrease to just one person, the official added. The departure of about 400 employees from the generation division is also a serious issue, as it will take about six months to recruit and train new staff for this division.
Overall, while the approved staff count at the electricity board should be 26,783, only about 21,800 are currently employed. If 2,200 leave, the workforce will fall to 19,600, a reduction of approximately 10%, internal sources revealed.
