Jagdeo asks for patience over increased blackouts

Aug 02, 2025 News

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

Kaieteur News – Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo has asked citizens to exercise patience with the recent hike in blackouts, which he said was caused by the boom in construction of roads and bridges.

He said he was informed that contractors over the last week, needed several eight-hour periods of blackout to get their work done.

“In fact, two on the east coast to remove the utility poles so that the road on the railway embankment between the roundabout at Ogle and Sheriff Street, the four-lane road could be completed. They need to remove all of those poles off the track of the road to get the four-lane. Monday, they did one eight-hour blackout which affected many people on the east coast,” the VP said.

Jagdeo said he had advised that word be spread about the blackout periods due to the extensiveness, however, the power outage lasted for 12 hours, since there were some complications during the removal of the utility poles.

“But this represents a major problem for us because we have enough power in the system. We have enough power with the power ship and the other plants. It’s just that they have to interrupt power to move these utility poles for the construction activities and it creates problems for people,” the VP stressed.

He said further, “They then told me that by the national park, they’

re widening the road, I think it’s Woolford Avenue, and they needed six hours blackout there to move the poles, and I said to them, can’t you work from midnight, which is supposed to be from last night or so to the morning so that you can then do that? But once these are removed, they’re moved onto permanent concrete poles and we don’t have to touch them back hopefully for decades and the system would be more reliable.”

Jagdeo acknowledged that the current situation is causing hardship but he wants “to urge the people who been affected to bear with us a bit. It’s not the, it’s not like we have a choice.”

He reasoned that roads are needed, but power in the system is also needed as it is frustrating for persons not to have electricity.

Earlier this year, Kaieteur News reported that Power China and Indian firm Kalpataru signed US $422 million (GUY $90 billion) in contracts for the extension of transmission lines for Guyana Power and Light.

During a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister’s boardroom, the head of GPL’s executive management committee, Kesh Nandlall, said it was no secret that Guyana has the fastest-growing economy in the world. He said GPL’s role is of paramount importance in supporting the energy needs of the country.

“The Government of Ireland has invested in the gas-to-energy project, which aims to deliver an additional 300 megawatts to the national grid in the first phase, followed by another 300 megawatts second phase. The primary challenge for GPL will be to ensure that the delivery of the power is delivered to the various regions across the country. Addressing this challenge necessitates the construction of infrastructure for the transmission and distribution. We are here because we have started that process, and I would like to let you know that this project that we are going to sign today is the largest ever investment for GPL in infrastructure development in a one-time investment,” Nandlall said.

He disclosed that there are three lots for the project in the eastern corridor of the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS). Lot One was awarded to Power China in the sum of USD $256.7 million, while contracts for the other two lots were won by Kalpataru for USD $156.5 million.

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Bharrat Jagdeo, blackouts, GPL, patience, roads

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