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Charity residents now five days without light and water
The Anna Regina power plant
Residents on the Essequibo Coast continue to suffer great depression and frustration due to the persistent power outages experienced on the Coast for the last seven days and more.
Over the past two days the northern section of the Coast experienced hours of blackouts, even worse was the fact that no public notice or easily accessible information to update residents on the actual situation was provided by Guyana Power and Light (GPL). This lack of information has created discomfort for residents, particularly small entrepreneurs, and by extension the business community, who were caught unprepared.
The village of Charity, however, seems to be impacted more heavily than all other villages on the Coast. According to reports reaching this publication, Charity has had no electricity for the past five days, and as a result, the village of some 8000 residents has had no water, as the GWI pump station is also dependent on GPL.
According to President of the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce Duleep Singh, as of last Friday at 08:00 hrs to yesterday there was no electricity or any water in the Charity area.
“Charity is heavily commercialized; what’s even worse about the situation is that there are some 8,000 residents who have no water, the hospital currently has no electricity. Businesses are feeling the brunt; I have a hotel here and it’s not easy to be running on standby around the clock.”
Mr. Singh believes that the Government and the power company need to adopt a proactive attitude towards supplying power. “Instead of waiting for something to happen, the company should do something before the harm is done.”
The Regional Democratic Council expressed disappointment that GPL has provided no clarity on the situation.
“The RDC of Region 2 is seeking clarity from the leadership of GPL, and more precisely the Government of Guyana, regarding the reason (s) for frequent blackouts in Region Two. Such refusal by GPL to share timely information reflects blunt disrespect for the people of the region, who are counting their losses due to extended blackouts in a region where the economy is already struggling.”
The Regional Chairman emailed Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson and highlighted his concerns on this situation.
“The RDC calls on the Government of Guyana to consult the people of Region Two and offer early answers regarding future developmental plans to provide reliable power supply.
Power is of vital importance in our day to day lives. People rely on power for business, security and most of all communication. Loss of power in a geographic location automatically separates that location from the rest of the world. This in turn paves a way to serious problems and causes great inconvenience to residents of that region. Entrepreneurs lose time, money and valuable customers to the blackouts. Criminals on the other hand take advantage of the lengthy power outages to carry out their hideous crimes at nights.”
“I own a barber shop and I can’t do any business, because sometimes the whole day is blackout. Then again you can’t chance it, because sometimes you start work on a man hair and suddenly the blackout come on and you left with the man hair halfway.”
“I had to give away all the meat in my fridge, ’cause some of them start spoiling already. I got my shop freezer with ice and other perishables, all of them spoil and melt away, I don’t know who would compensate me…the government or GPL?”
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