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Govt. unable to pronounce on end to blackouts – AG Nandlall
Kaieteur News – Government is at present unable to pronounce on when the recent spate of blackouts plaguing the country would end, but the phenomenon is, in part, behind the push for a diversified power generation base using the much vaunted gas-to-shore project.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.
This is according to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, who this past week in his, ‘Issues in the News’ broadcast, sought to lament the state of affairs of the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) generation and distribution capacity.
According to Nandlall, despite the upgrades currently being undertaken by Trinidadian and other contractors, “I don’t know when it will stop and I am saying that as part of a government. But we are working towards it.”
To this end, Nandlall posited “that is why we are pursuing so many different avenues to provide power; power that is cheap, renewable and alternative to fossil fuel.”
He posited, “That is why we are promoting solar, we are promoting hydro, we are promoting wind and we are pushing the gas-to-shore project.”
Insisting that, “you can’t fault us for not trying,” the Attorney General also lamented that in recent years the power company did not adequately maintain its systems that has led to the existing status quo.
“There was no maintenance of the transmission lines for the past four years,” he said, parroting President, Irfaan Ali.
“Right now there are Trinidadian contractors and a whole host of contractors who are working in servicing and maintaining the lines which have been neglected for the past four years and that is the hallmark of the APNU+AFC term in Government; every sector of this country was neglected.”
According to Nandlall, the opposition is instead now looking to simply find fault with the proposed gas-to-shore project, among other initiatives, to reform and transform the country.
He posited optimistically “the upgrades that are currently being done will be completed soon and we will have some normalcy restored in the electricity sector.”
President Ali, while speaking at a swearing in ceremony at the Office of the President on Monday last, had noted, “I had cause only two days ago to make a comment that GPL did not maintain any of its facilities for almost four consecutive years.”
The lines, he emphasised, “were not maintained, their system was not maintained” and “today we have to correct that.”
Empowered by the Public Utilities Commission Act, the President said that the PUC, among other things, is required to ensure that every public utility maintains its property and equipment, “in such condition that enables service that is adequate, efficient, non-discriminatory, affordable and safe.”
On this note, he pointed to concerns at GPL, which were recently brought to his attention.
President Ali has since reiterated his government’s commitment to support the work of the PUC and expand and improve the quality of public services provided to citizens.
The work of the PUC, he said, is expected to intensify as Guyana enters a new phase of its development, “one which has already witnessed the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector and plans are ahead for boosting power generation and water supply.”
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