Dear Editor,
How unfortunate it was to have learned recently that Guyanese will be experiencing rolling blackouts this Christmas season, and that no ease or solution is in near sight to the present Guyana Power & Light (GPL) crisis. It is a rather unfortunate time of year also that this had to happen. Surely this will be a holiday season with a difference.
At a time when nocturnal activities heighten at various Christian churches across Guyana, they had better prepare for power outages at any given time.
November 30 was the date that was floating around in the media that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) had “assured GPL of some 7 megawatts of power” to the Berbice grid from the Skeldon Sugar Factory; at least that was what I saw on TV advertisements.
Then President Jagdeo, speaking on the recent cabinet outreach here, mentioned a later date when Berbicians would get some relief: some time in mid- December.
Now, in what has appeared to be a national problem all of a sudden, Guyanese have heard that they must expect frequent power outages this season.
The power company has also been sort of hiding from the media and the Guyanese public during this time of great want of information. We’re either hearing from President Jagdeo or some other official-except anyone from GPL.
In one instance, GPL did report that it was having problems with its generating sets at the Canefield Power Station.
Now we are hearing reports of rising costs of fuel and the impact that it’s had on the company.
It was announced that sets may be acquired from the Bahamas of all places, but why, I ask? Will not the Skeldon Modernisa-tion Project cater for the electricity needs of Regions Five and Six combined plus more to add on to the national grid whenever that comes on stream?
So why is there need for spending millions of dollars to bring mega- generators to Guyana? This surely does not add up.
Frankly, I see no solution in sight, despite the song and dance about the Skeldon Sugar Factory.
Persons that are put on the spot by Berbicians who demand answers about this blight that is currently facing them, in the form of plaguing blackouts at any time of the day or night, are only making up stories to appease the angry populace.
What a damper these blackouts will put on this busy time of year especially during the hype of shopping, cleaning, cooking and even partaking in events and activities that say the true meanings of Christmas.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
