Essequibians protest incessant blackouts

Aug 25, 2018 News

After more than a week of consistent power outages throughout the Essequibo Coast, Essequibians staged a protest against the Guyana Power and Light yesterday morning.
The protest, which was planned and peaceful, consisted of members of the Regional Democratic Council, the Guyana Tourism Association, the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and residents. The protest commenced at the Anna Regina Power plant, and protesters slowly marched with placards to the company’s Anna Regina office. As protesters neared the power company’s office, however, security guards on station quickly shut the gates to the compound. Staff members secured the windows and doors, closing them shut.
Kaieteur News understands that frustrated residents from as far as Supenaam joined the protest, eager to make their concerns heard. One resident who lives as far as Pomona, told this publication yesterday that his community and surrounding communities hadn’t any electricity for some 36 hours.
Arnold Adams who is an RDC councilor and resident of Supenaam, explained that his area had been without electricity for almost a week. Adams added, “Every 36 hours the middle get a little current but Supenaam has been suffering the most, the people of Supenaam need answers. This struggle is going to continue so long as we don’t get answers from GPL.”
A businessman, who sells beef for a living, said that business has decreased significantly since the power cuts, since he can only operate two of his five freezers. The man said that he is now slapped with additional expenses, since he has to make daily purchases of diesel and ice, which he claims total $10,000.
Regional Vice Chairperson, Juliet Coonjah told the media yesterday that all efforts made by the RDC to contact the state-owned company have proved futile. Coonjah said that during a meeting earlier this year, GPL had said that the new power plant would have been completed and handed over in the second quarter of this year [2018].
The vice chairperson added, “Still we have been having constant blackouts for long periods… These people have no courtesy… We’re asking for answers. They put up information but they never work according to the advisory.”
Coonjah later revealed that the RDC is trying to convene a meeting with a team from GPL by next Tuesday. She noted, however, that there still hasn’t been a response from the power company. Kaieteur News was informed that the protests are to continue next Tuesday, and it is anticipated to be even bigger. Meanwhile, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, in a Government statement last evening, said that the electricity distribution along the Essequibo coast would have resumed to normal before the day was out. Speaking with the Department of Public Information, Minister Patterson explained that the Anna Regina Power station usually operates with a capacity of 9.6 megawatts.
However, over a period several sets went down resulting in load shedding.
Further, a total outage was scheduled to facilitate rearrangement of the generators and transformers to accommodate the installation of the No 12 unit.
Also, intermittent problems with individual machines also led to unscheduled outages.
”We installed two sets with a total of capacity 3.1 MW this week, so power will be back to normal this (yesterday) evening. It is expected that by 6 pm today (yesterday) another two units will be available resulting in a total capacity of 5.8 MW that will be able to meet the demand.”
With regards to the new power station, all the generators and auxiliary equipment are on site as of August 22nd.
Commercial operation is expected by December.

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