Darkness prevails as…
DEPUTY Mayor Robert Williams said yesterday that the Georgetown Municipality cannot yet disclose its plan to pay the outstanding street lighting bill to Guyana Power & Light (GPL).

He said City Hall must first have discussions with the Government, a move he is optimistic will help resolve the issue.

Mr. Williams told the Guyana Chronicle the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has since prepared new proposals that are now before the GPL Board of Directors.

According to him, the M&CC is hoping that the talks with Government will surround Government accepting responsibility for part payment; GPL being asked to collect a sum on each customer’s bill as contribution toward street lights; payment by GPL for installations on all Council’s reserves and increases in property tax to meet GPL’s indebtedness.

Williams, again, lamented that electricity has not been restored to the City Hall complex although the only debt the Council owes to GPL is for street lighting.

However, a source who requested anonymity, claimed M&CC officials are now changing the conditions surrounding the payment plan.

He said the M&CC, initially, agreed to submit the payment plan, in due course, after the two sides exchanged cheques to the value of $179,496,876.

“The plan is that GPL’s Board will consider the proposals. Now M&CC is saying that it has to conduct an audit first before it can prepare the plan. Different issues are being raised now,” he maintained.

M&CC officials had hoped that, with the cheques exchange, GPL would have reconnected electricity to all the agencies associated with the Council that were disconnected.

However, GPL seems adamant that electricity will not be restored to City Hall unless the M&CC discloses how it would offset its approximately $440M balance owed the utility.

The exchange of cheques was the result of intervention by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which is still engaging the parties.