GPL spends US$225M within seven years for service provision

Mar 21, 2013 News

Through government financing, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) said at a media engagement on Tuesday, that it has invested almost US$225M into the provision of electricity in the past seven years.

GPL Chairman Winston Brassington

Chairman of the GPL board, Winston Brassington, said that from 2006 to 2012, the funding has been facilitated at a three percent rate by Petro-Caribe Facility, China Import-Export Bank (CHEMIX) and the Inter-Developmental Bank (IDB).
In improving service provision, Brassington said that US$18M of the funds was placed into generation which included investments to strengthen GPL’s Wartsila ability.
Wartsila plants will be increased from 40 megawatts in Demerara to 105 megawatts, a capacity the chairman said, that would be achieved towards year end following the completion of the Vreed-en-Hoop plant.
Additionally, Brassington said that before the year is out, Berbice would be integrated into the Demerara grid as part of the new investments, with seven new sub-stations being built.
Brassington related that transmission and distribution also accounted for US$13B of GPL’s investments, while $1.8B was further invested into metering.
For last year alone, it was revealed that at least US$50M was invested in GPL, while 2009 saw the largest sum being invested in capital expenditure.
From 2012, GPL statistics showed that GPL had been getting money from elsewhere apart from the IDB, the government and self generated funds.