Approximately 200 households in Kumu and Quarrie – satellite villages of St Ignatius, Central Rupu-nuni, Region Nine, will now have first-time access to reliable electricity, after receiving solar photovoltaic (PV) home systems through the government’s Solar Home Systems Project.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) in a press release yesterday said Minister of Amerind-ian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, handed over the solar systems to residents Wednesday last, in keeping with government’s commitment to ensure Amerindian communities are energy-secure. Sukhai noted that government acknowledges the challenges of supplying electricity to every remote village, hence the distribution of solar panels in the interim.
“In the meantime, what we are doing is to ensure that you have lights so that you can continue to do much more even in the evenings,” and with reliable electricity now available, children and youths in Kumu and Quarrie can study comfortably in their homes, “In many of our homes, we don’t have electricity and the time to study which is beyond school hours, sometimes we don’t get to do that,” Sukhai said.
Over the past few days, Karasabai Village received PV home systems, delivered by Prime Minister, Mark Phillips and on Tuesday last, Achiwib, Rupunau, and Karaudarnau received panels from Minister of Local Govern-ment and Regional Deve-lopment, Anand Persaud. The DPI release said that in Achiwib, some 134 panels were distributed, 75 panels in Rupunau and 237 in Karaudarnau. Regional Chairman, Brian Allicock told the DPI that over 2,000 systems will be distributed to Region Nine households who are without electricity. The Solar Home Systems Project, the DPI release noted, will altogether see 30,000 households in hinterland, riverine, and rural communities receiving a 150-watt solar system, an upgrade to the previous systems distributed in 2014 with the expectation that they bridge the large energy divide between urban and rural communities.
The programme was initially expected to roll out in 2015, however, when the previous administration assumed office, fiscal resources for the project were stalled, and solar systems were not distributed to vulnerable communities. When the PPP/C Adminis-tration assumed office, DPI said, and following months of discussions, a US$7.2 million credit agreement between the Governments of Guyana and India, facilitated by the Exim Bank was signed.
