Rising global fuel prices will not affect electricity or water rates here, President Irfaan Ali assured yesterday, while saying government will offset any increase.
“Here in Guyana the government is not going allow that increase to be translated to the people of the country. We said to both entities Guyana Power and Light [GPL] and Guyana Water Inc [GWI] that you are not going to increase by a cent. The government will take will take up the additional expenditure and fill the gap…,” Ali announced to loud applause from the gathering at the commissioning of a new $141 million well at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.
Last week, GPL hinted at a hike as it informed that the steady rise in fuel prices was negatively affecting its operations and should it continue, would have an adverse effect on revenue generated.
Prior to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, companies had budgeted to purchase oil at US$60 per barrel. That cost is currently slightly in excess of US$100 per barrel, just over a 66 per cent increase in the space of a month’s time. A short time ago, it went as high as US$130 per barrel, an increase of more than 100 per cent.
The president also announced that the government is consultation with stakeholders to determine the best options to deal with the multifaceted problem of the rising cost of living.
“We’ve already started that so the government will be continuing, aggressively, discussions with a cross section of Guyanese communities so that we can come up with the best possible approach – listening to ideas, listening to some of the connected issues and then coming up with some policies. You know we set aside $5 billion in the budget to address this [rising cost of living],” the Head of State disclosed on the sidelines of the event.
Ali posited that these measures are indicators of a responsible government that is committed to delivering to the people despite the unforeseeable challenges.
“This is not managing in panic, this is managing with a strategic vision of overcoming crisis and building an economy and a country that is strong and resilient. That is the objective. That is what we are pursuing,” he declared, while stating that Guyana must become self-sufficient.
At the commissioning of the well, Ali remarked that it was the goal of his government to deliver treated water to 100% of the population along the coast and to make water accessible to all communities in the hinterland and riverine areas by 2025.
“Notwithstanding all the global shortages and increases, we are committing to you that we are going to deliver this without a single cent increase on the water tariff that you are paying,” he assured.
He let it be known that some $11 billion will be spent over the next two years to develop the potable water infrastructure and facilities across the country. Since returning to government, Ali pointed out, the PPP/C has spent $6.2 billion in developing and maintaining the water distribution networks across the country.
The President explained that starting this year, they will commence investment for 12 water treatment plants to achieve the goal of having treated water in every household.
GWI’s ambitious plan, Ali explained, falls in line with international commitments made by Guyana to provide clean and contaminant free water to the nation while ensuring that the population does not face water scarcity in the coming years.
“By 2025, more than half of the world’s population will be living in water-stress circumstances. This is the context in which we must position this accomplishment…” he said.
Strategic vision
Meanwhile, GWI’s Chief Executive Officer Shaik Baksh highlighted that as a part of the company’s strategic vision it has been drilling multiple wells across the country to ensure residents have access to water.
He noted that within the past few months they have drilled and commissioned wells in regions, Three, Four, Seven, and Eight, and will be continuing with a robust plan for the remained of the year.
This year, a minimum of eight wells will be drilled on the coastal belt while in the hinterland over 30 wells will be drilled, according to the CEO.
“So this is indeed challenging assignments but because we want to stratify the requirement of our strategic plan to move form 96% to 98% coverage to access to water overall, and within another two years [to] 100% water supply coverage…we are moving aggressively,” he explained.
Very soon, he added, they will be going to procure construction services for six water treatment plants. The plants, he said, will be constructed in every region to achieve the goal of providing treated water to the population.
“We are on the move at GWI but when we drill wells and build treatment plans we must maintain them and we have a robust maintenance program for both the wells and treatment plants… This year alone 16 wells will be maintained and 10 water treatment plants will be maintained.”
New Well
The well was constructed by Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Construction Services and drilled to a depth of 955 feet. It has the capacity to discharge 210 cubic meters of water per hour with a pressure gauge of 10 – 15 feet and is constructed with high quality stainless steel fittings. The well has an estimated life expectancy of 30 years.
CEO Baksh noted that had there been maintenance of the old well within the past seven years, the interrupted water supply in the community could have been avoided.
Moving forward, Baskh explained that they have procured enough materials to upgrade the old wells on the distribution network to prevent such events from reoccurring.
“Some of our wells are approaching 50 years and we don’t want what happened last year to reoccur. So we have materials for about four to five wells already built up in the inventory…”
He highlighted that after an inventory was done upon his assumption to office, there were no pumps, motors, no materials for new service connections, among other things. He stated that they had to remedy over 1,000 leakages between Enmore and Industry on the East Coast of Demerara.
Additionally, Baksh noted that while the iron content remains relatively high and above the standard set by the World Health Organisation for drinking water purposes, they will address it by the installation of iron removal facilities in the near future.
Meanwhile, Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal, in his brief remarks, said that the commissioning of the well demonstrates government’s commitment to improving not only the lives of citizens, but also the quality and sustainability to the access of potable water.
While echoing the vision of the corporation, the Minister noted that they are working very hard and it is their intention to achieve the goals set out by 2025.
Since February, the communities of Lusignan, Annandale West, Good Hope Public Road and Courbane Park, ECD, have been enjoying improved level of water supply when the new well went online.
It was in February last year that GWI announced that the communities were facing disruptions due to the collapse of the old well.
