Prime Minister, Mark Phillips on Friday commissioned a 900-kilowatt generator at Kwakwani, which is expected to lead to the Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice community having 24-hour electricity.
The Prime Minister called the event momentous for community development, the Department of Public Information (DPI) reported yesterday.
“What we have done here is a shining example for the rest of Guyana, Kwakwani can boast now of having adequate electricity,” Phillips was quoted as saying.
He said that the generator would provide the community with enough electrical power to sustain small industries, which can lead to opportunities for development.
“With the commissioning of this 900-kilowatt gen set, you now have over two megawatts for a community of just over 4000 residents. That is something big for Guyana, because I’m not aware that there are any other small communities with such large amounts of power”, he said.
According to DPI, CEO of Kwakwani Utilities Incorporated (KUI), Leslie Sobers Jr., said that after starting 2019 at 16 hours of electric power daily, the Berbice community was able to keep the lights on longer by the end of the year, but KUI was still unable to produce a full day’s worth of electricity.
“We will now be able to produce 24 hours of electricity to Kwakwani, we will see improvement in businesses, in water distribution and in our very own homes,” Sobers stated.
Paris Archer, Councillor of the Kwakwani Neighbourhood Demo-cratic Council, expressed his appreciation.
“We will always remember that this commissioning took place…we had a lot of blackouts in the past… thanks to the management and staff of KUI and the Prime Minister, we now have 24-hour service.”
