In the aftermath of Friday’s severing of the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) cable across the Demerara River, new measures have been announced to protect it.
The cable had been damaged twice last year and after lengthy and costly repairs, GPL had vowed to take steps to ensure that there was no recurrence. Those measures failed on Friday.
The cable connects the Vreed-en-Hoop power station with the Kingston power plant. GPL has thus far provided no information on which ship’s anchor severed the cable and what it is doing to ensure that the ship’s owner pays for the repairs.
In a statement, GPL said that it held a meeting yesterday with the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) on measures to prevent a recurrence of damage to the cable.
It said that Friday’s severing occurred notwithstanding “multiple actions” taken to improve security of the cable in light of previous incidents. It said that the “decisive solution” would be to bury the cable to a suitable depth to cater for a channel draught of 10 meters. To achieve this, it said, would require suitable dredging equipment capable of not only operating to the required depth but to be able to cut the hard coropina (clay) that is being encountered on the riverbed. GPL said that suitable dredging equipment is not available locally.
While the company continues to work on the logistics of getting such equipment to the site, GPL agreed additional measures with MARAD to police the cable until it is permanently and fully secured.
The release said that MARAD has agreed to the following short-term preventative measures; the first three, of which, would be done immediately:
Create an additional 200m buffer zone on either side of the cable crossing and to publish the necessary notification to mariners – this should enable additional time for intervention should a vessel break its moorings. 2) Reinforce the existing regulation on bridge watch – vessels at the assigned mooring points are required to have an officer on watch continuously. 3) GPL will be incorporated into the policing loop utilizing its around-the-clock security presence at Kingston that overlooks the cable crossing. Relevant information will be shared with GPL’s security personnel via radio and telephone to facilitate this endeavour.
Tugs will be engaged that can intervene should a vessel require assistance. The release said that this initiative would not be implemented immediately.
The severing of the cable will likely lead to more power outages during the holiday season.
