The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) contract will see the LECI planting poles and running power cables in Phase 2. Other infrastructural works including roads and drains are already in place. The area caters for 1,000 new homes and already several persons have stated building.
Prior to the start of the electrification programme, persons who had homes in the area had been complaining bitterly about the not being able to access electricity. They spoke of their fears of being easy targets for bandits. Others told Stabroek News that they had been forced to delay construction because the area had no had electricity. “With this new development I now feel comfortable to go and start building there. I had my title a long time and even secure a loan to do my house but I had to delay de whole process,” one man said.
LECI Manager Patrick Dublin said the company has taken the decision to use a more secure system to execute the project in order to minimise the chances of electricity theft. He said while it is costing the company more, it is worth the investment because of the prevalence of the crime especially in Amelia’s Ward. He said the company was using a different type of wire which was not easy to “hook and pull down and then attach illegally. We still have this happening within our network so this is why we had to make this decision.”
Meanwhile, CEO at the Linmine Secretariat Horace James under whose purview the LECI falls; said that since the company took over the responsibility for electricity on the East Bank of the Demerara River at Linden this is the first contract it would have executed. He said that in the past all the works related to providing and maintaining electricity were done with funds from the company’s coffers.
James said that in addition to this project the company is making a valiant effort to persuade residents to conserve electricity.
He said over the last quarter of 2009 there had been a steady rise in the cost of fuel and for December 2009 and January 2010 the company paid $94,000 per barrel of fuel compared with $62,000, the lowest sum it paid in the same year.
Currently LECI has started selling energy-saving bulbs at a cost of $250 each to residents. He said because of the limited quantity they were able to secure, each homeowner can only purchase a maximum of three bulbs. James said that following a project of providing energy-saving bulbs free of cost to residents there was a marked reduction in the electricity consumption by one mega watt. “We notice that the consumption is rising again rapidly and we have to do something about this and this is why we are having the bulbs on sale.
We cannot give them for free this time because we didn’t get them free.” The bulbs are being sold at the Linmine Office Complex’s bill payment section. The Amelia’s Ward project is scheduled to be complete by April month-end.
