Dear Editor,
Blackout woes came back to Region Two for 3 days. The blackout began at 8am on Monday, June 13, and continued until midnight Wednesday, June 15. All I am hearing from man in the street is that the two Wartsila engines at Anna Regina suddenly went down. I remember some time ago after the APNU+AFC coalition took office I wrote a letter to the Stabroek News that two new standby generating sets would be needed in the event these two ailing Wartsila engines went down together.
Despite the past experience of the constant and prolonged blackouts under the previous administration which had no back-up plans to restore the electricity to the region, no one paid any heed to my letter, and here we are again with blackouts.
This blackout not only affected the business community, it affected children who had to do their research and homework for their exams. If we are talking about ‘no child left behind’ in the education system, then the government needs to get its act together and do something urgently about these blackout woes.
I hate to hear people and politicians talk about the past 28 and 23 years of government; those were things of the past. If we are to progress as a nation, we have to move this country forward and forget about the past and think about the future.
The thing that inspired me and Mr Sam Bacchus, the rice and business magnate of Affiance to join the APNU+AFC election campaign for a change, was that we wanted a better future for all Guyanese regardless of race, creed or religion. The coalition must now correct the wrong that was perpetrated on all Guyanese by putting a good electricity system in place across the country. No country can be productive without a stable and reliable power supply.
On the election campaign there was much talk of ‘no more blackouts’, but on Monday the blackouts revisited us with a vengeance.
I know that Minister of Infrastructure David Patterson has a plan to end blackouts and upgrade the two Wartsila engines at Anna Regina, and I applaud his quick action in restoring power to the region at midnight. The engineer and his team must also be commended for working round the clock. This never happened in the past when we were faced with endless blackouts, but I would like to advise the Minister, that it is better to buy two new Wartsila engines than repair the existing ones which continue to malfunction and have outlived their usefulness. They will just continue to break down.
Minister Patterson in whom I have much confidence, must also think of clean energy as the world is moving towards wind and solar power. This will cut the cost of fuel; it’s time for us to think outside of the box .
I suspect that a fuse in my back-up GT&T battery was blown because of the on-off current before the Wartsila went down, and I couldn’t use the internet and telephone for the past 3 days.
I then called 226-0122, and a young lady by the name of Colette Thornhill answered my call. She was very kind and courteous and referred me to a supervisor. Within minutes 2 technicians showed up and fixed the problem. I wish to thank Ms Thornhill for answering my calls and acting quickly on my report.\
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
