– as UAEP successfully ends
INITIATED in 2002, and having provided electricity to 22,000 households, the Unserved Areas Electrification Programme (UAEP) has ended, but Government plans to continue the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) funded programme to ensure that many more Guyanese can improve their standard of living.
Speaking at a closing ceremony last Friday evening at the Umana Yana in Georgetown, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who has responsibility for the US28.2M programme, said Cabinet has approved the formation of a hinterland electrification unit that will be closely related to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to sustain the existing installations and to continue the electrification programme, since it is Government’s intent to bring the service to virtually all homes in Guyana.

During its 2002 to 2010 life span, the programme extended electricity services to households in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10.

Prime Minister Hinds acknowledged the importance of celebrating the formal end of the UAEP with which much has been achieved and which guides the next step for growth and development of Guyana.

“I want first to be happy with those thousands of homes who now enjoy electricity for the first time because their joy is the greatest reward for a number of us who have worked over the years to make the programme a success,” he stated.

The Prime Minister explained that the UAEP was an idea of the late President Dr. Cheddi Jagan who had an ardent desire to facilitate and arrange for everyone to have an opportunity to work and enjoy a better life.

“We had a great desire to expand electrification with many areas which were not yet regularised by Government and new housing schemes also being developed,” he added.

“Now that this programme is over, we have a number of installations in the hinterland including several small grid systems; in 20 villages, homes are equipped with solar systems and another 15 villages with the same system directly funded by the government,” he added.

“Those of us enjoying electricity today could not contemplate living without it, its conveniences, comforts and necessities and yet electricity and electrification as we know it, is not much more than 150 years old and has revolutionized over the centuries through various methods,” he said.

Prime Minister Hinds explained that while persons blame the utility provider for the high cost of electricity in Guyana, the cost is quite comparable with that of other Caribbean countries.
“Government supports consumers on GPL’s grid in a number of ways by seeking out and passing on concessionary financing, budgetary support, particularly when fuel prices are high, foregoing dividends, loans, and even directly to the consumers,” he noted.

The UAEP has an element labelled as the demonstration component for the hinterland where the challenges are different, a major one being that homes were far apart and grid network not effective.

“In those cases we have found that solar homes systems are the most practical and cost effective way to prove some amount of electrification,” Prime Minister Hinds posited.

IDB Country Representative Mr. Marco Nicola expressed gratitude to the Government of Guyana, in particular the Office of the Prime Minister, for the vision and commendable efforts in the design and execution of the UAEP, in alliance with the bank.

Appreciation was also extended to other agencies in the energy sector for their partnership in the accomplishment of the programme.

“From north to south on the South American continent, communities are waiting to have access to electricity and working families are eager to lower their energy fees, private companies are seeking competitiveness and increased productivity while reducing cost and cutting greenhouse  gas emissions while Governments on the other side are searching for cost effectiveness and sustainable alternatives to satisfy the growing demand for energy,” he pointed out.

Such a programme has positive impacts across many lines including education, health, gender equality, employment and household welfare, he added.
He noted, too, that with the same vision the Government of Guyana has attached importance to enhancing the supply of electricity to unserved areas.

“This effort seeks to improve access to electricity in hinterland communities using renewable energy. The programme is not an isolated programme from the energy sector in Guyana; it is part of the national effort to create a more sustainable energy sector,” Nicola lauded.

Project Coordinator Ms. Morsha Johnson, in her report, noted that the programme’s objectives were to implement the Government’s socio-economic development and poverty alleviation strategy and related policies, strengthen the legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks of the power sector and accelerate the development of the electricity sector and extension of services to unserved communities.