Expect disruptions, Baksh warns as $1B water pipes’ replacement project continues

GWI Chief Executive Officer Shaik Baksh conducts inspection of ongoing repairs to a broken transmission main at the intersection of Brickdam and Avenue of the Republic.

At an estimated $1 billion price tag, the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) is continuing to replace old metal pipes installed since pre-colonial times with high density polyethylene (DHPE) ones as the former overtime have caused many service disruptions and water losses due to breakage and leaks, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shaik Baksh said yesterday.

As such, the utility yesterday put residents of Georgetown on notice for interruptions, but emphasized it was all in the process to provide a better service to Guyanese.

“Overall in Georgetown we have the transmission lines and distribution lines and these lines, some of them are over 100 years old, and at this point in time a lot of these lines are breaking, they are  leaking and collapsing,” the CEO said yesterday on the site of works at the corner of  Brickdam and Avenue of the Republic.